Things that go bump in the street
Toolbox
By STEVEN PAPPAS Times Argus Staff - Published: March 15, 2008
So, what route did you take to get to work today? Bet it wasn't normal. Bet you clenched your teeth a few times. Bet you cursed, even under your breath.
What are the odds that by the end of this winter one of your tires hasn't gone flat from potholes? Your car still in alignment? You heard about someone who had an axle break? A steel-belted radial fail?
Even the old-timers agree: This winter has been wicked, in the true sense of the New England colloquialism.
When we asked readers and town officials to tell us about their most hateful driving experiences, we opened Pandora's Pothole.
And a whole lot of trouble came out.
Ray Mooney of Rutland said plows are catching loose asphalt on streets and peeling it up, making byways a nightmare.
"I saw this in front of my house and have a bucket full of pavement that I had to pick up from my lawn," he said, adding that Stratton Road and many streets used frequently as a 'back road bypass" from Routes 4 and 7 are getting beaten to pieces, literally.
In Rutland, the pothole in front of Yankee Medical Inc. on Allen Street may or may not be the state's worst.
But one thing is for sure, the 8-foot-long, 8-inch-deep gouge along the southern edge of the road has been blamed for more blown tires, bent rims and other insurance claims filed this winter than any other pothole in Vermont.
"People don't realize it's there when it's filled up with water and they run right through it," Rutland streets foreman Fred Rathjen. "We've got it blocked off with cones but its going to take a lot to fix it."
Rathjen said streets crews have spent much of the winter trying unsuccessfully to fill the hole, which has only grown bigger since flowing water from rain and snow melt run right over it.
In southern Vermont, the problems are just as intense.
Shaftsbury Town Administrator Aaron Chrostowsky said what has stood out has been the numerous frost cycles as of late.
"It's like we've had several mini-mud seasons throughout the winter instead of just one at the end of the season. As a result, we've had to spend quite a bit of money dealing with safety issues like potholes in various places," he said. "Our budget has been hit pretty hard."
Manchester's Department of Public Works Superintendent Jeff Williams, whose responsibilities include town roads, said he and his crews have been able to keep up, but found it to be challenging.
"It's been a tough year in general. I'd say it's been quite a bit harder than anything I've seen for a number of years," he said. "It's been like (the damage from a winter from) two or three years in one winter."
"Several things are indigenous to Vermont," said Ludlow Municipal Manager Frank Heald. "Mud season, black flies and potholes."
Heald said that the town recently switched cold patch materials because the first material didn't stick very well. He noted that two spots on Main Street, at the entrance to Okemo and across from Mill Street, were dug up this winter to fix the water mains and those potholes will be fixed this summer.
Share your pothole photos and video with us. Both the Times Argus and the Rutland Herald have links on their home pages where readers can make contributions.
13