Potholes are bad, but when some of the worst are poorly patched utility cuts, it’s a pot full of corner-cutting indifference.
With spring almost here, we are entering high season for potholes, when the combination of freeze-and-thaw weather, precipitation and road salt align to create more craters than at any other time of year.
As winters go, this hasn’t been a bad one. The potholes aren’t as large or plentiful as they were in the punishing winter of 2014, when persistent cold and heavy snow resulted in record patching numbers by the city.
But like pimples on a teenager, potholes erupt even in the most temperate of winters, forcing drivers to dodge them, if they’re lucky enough to see them ahead of time.
We weren’t so lucky while driving last week along Park Home Ave., west of Senlac Rd. The wheels of our car found a pothole so deep that it felt like a bomb went off under the vehicle when we hit it.
The explosion was sufficiently shattering that we pulled over to take a look and found a utility cut that extended across the entire road. Much of the asphalt in the westbound lane had crumbled, leaving a gaping hole.
There was a large gap at the point where the patch is supposed to meet the adjacent road surface, creating a raised edge that is not much different for motorists than driving over a curb.
We stood and watched as drivers who saw it in time steered into the opposite lane to go around it. But for those who didn’t see it or had to hold their lane to avoid oncoming traffic, it surely rattled their teeth.
If it was patched with quality asphalt, it would have been less likely to erode. But utility contractors are notorious for cutting corners and using cheap stuff to meet their obligations, which is why so many of their cuts in roads and sidewalks sink and crumble.
As long as the city allows them to get away with it, nothing will change. And with more and more of the pipes and wires needed to keep us connected buried below ground, it’ll only get worse, until the city clamps down in it.
STATUS: We’ve asked transportation services if it can arrange to have the guilty party return and properly fill the cut, before a car is launched into outer space.
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