A Viewer Writes: How To Fix A Pothole

So, for three years or better at the corner of Zion Rd. & Naylor Mill, there’s been a pothole developing at the drainage grate. It started out as a little 9 inch hole until whatever Public Works/SHA takes care of that intersection tossed some asphalt in it without packing it down and by the end of that week the asphalt had been bounced out of the hole and was mounded up just after the hole. After that was rolled kind of flat by passing traffic, more was tossed in the hole and pretty much stayed, and over the course of the last three years, the broken, alligatored pavement has come up several times expanding the pothole area and has been occasionally patched over and over again.

Then, during the past year, another pothole has opened up in a spot not 50 feet away where a depression has formed under the road in a spot where every tire of any vehicle turning off Zion onto Naylor Mill must travel. Being open for most of the summer, I snapped a photo on 8/15 showing it in a depression that would clearly hold water and soften the soil under the roadbed which furthered the damage surrounding the hole.

 Well, shortly after these pictures were taken, this pothole got “patched”. Now, I’d like to imagine the men and equipment dispatched out to make this repair. I’m sure the Big Yellow Dump Truck was there with driver and flashing lights. Maybe the Supervisor was on that truck or stopped by in his own pickup to instruct. Then, let’s add the required flagger or two to set out the cones and direct traffic around the Big Yellow Truck at a VERY busy intersection while what, at least one more made the “repair”.

 Let’s see, that’s at LEAST one dump truck, four men and a load of hot mix and they left us with this gem!

Then, the traffic packed it down, leaving us a pothole that collects water and soaks the soil under which will freeze this winter and pop up making an even bigger pothole much like the one 50 feet away grew to!

OH! And the one 50 feet away with the same botched workmanship? Well, let’s just take a walk over there and see what all that equipment and manpower did while they were there “fixing” stuff.

NOTHING.

Now, you and I all know these two spots will be turning to garbage just as the asphalt plants are shutting down for the winter and the crappy weather is upon us! All that money spent on men, materials and equipment and nobody could get out the saw, cut out all the bad areas and use the asphalt that was already on the truck to do a job right the first time is now going to have to be spent all over again once on a temporary wintertime repair and second on an even larger repair in the spring, probably involving a paving machine then!

Bend over, folks, and be sure to pay your taxes on time this year! We’re doing this to ALL your roads, LOL! And the job security is FANTASTIC !