INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ Crews for Indiana's transportation agency have begun working around the clock to repair countless potholes created by weeks of punishing winter weather.

Gov. Mike Pence says Indiana Department of Transportation crews will work alternating 12-hour shifts, using portable lighting so that their pothole-patching work can continue during nighttime hours.

WIBC-FM reports Pence says the repair “surge'' will continue until all holes created on state highways by the winter freeze-thaw cycle are repaired.

Pence said Thursday that INDOT also will activate asphalt plants normally shuttered during the winter to supply local governments with additional patching material.

He says the state agency will pay the overtime costs out of its existing budget. The governor says INDOT has already put in 81,000 man-hours repairing potholes.