Deterioration of pavement is defined in terms of decrease in serviceability caused by various defects such as cracks, surface defects and disintegration. Potholes are the surface defects and the primary neighbourhood problems, as they are exceptionally visible defects. In the present study, an attempt has been made to determine the underlying causes for the development of potholes on the streets of Chandigarh city. Bitumen extractor was used to determine the bitumen content present in the road sample taken by core cutter alongside pothole. Grading of aggregates was performed in order to determine the type of soil subgrade. Using the traffic volume data, the required thickness of the road was determined and compared with the existing core cutter sample. For V1 and V2 roads, the present traffic volume is higher than the value for what the road was designed. It was found that the existing bitumen content in V3 roads is less than the optimum value.