SIOUX FALLS, SD - The pothole plague has invaded Sioux Falls this winter, but the patch crews put on the pavement is actually from last year's road projects.

Ripped up road sits behind the Sioux Falls Street Department ready for a resurrection.

"This is what I want to put in the hole. If I'm going to spend time trying to fix and repair a pothole, this is the material I want to put in it," Galynn Huber with the Sioux Falls Street Department said.

Chunks of city streets have been tossed into a recycler for the past few weeks as the asphalt gets a second life on the streets.

"It's kind of my version of going green. We take old asphalt. We take those chunks and we put it into the recycler. It heats up that oil that's in those old chunks and, in turn, gives me asphalt I can put back on the road again," Huber said.

Sioux Falls officials say the asphalt recycler is the only one of its kind in the state, and it's the best option for filling holes because the old, cold pavement comes out of the machine as piping, hot pothole patching material.

"Hot material will pack a lot denser than what cold material will, so ideally this is what you want to put in your pothole," Huber said.

The 300-degree mixture is loaded into a heated trailer and pulled out to potholes in the city. And since the recycled road packs a lot tighter in the hole, it's less likely to pop back out.

"If I can get it compacted really good, it won't let any moisture in. If I can keep the moisture out, I can keep the material in the hole," Huber said.

And the recycled street can get a second chance at making your daily drive a smooth one.

Street officials were using cold patch in the potholes earlier this winter and had problems with them popping out. Since they've started using the recycler, they haven't had to return to holes to re-fill them.