Bottoming out
February 20, 2009
It looked like a puddle.
BAM-CRASH!
Aw crap. Pothole.
We’ve been having some great warm days this week — I say “warm” New England-style, which basically means in the 40s — and that’s done a fantastic job melting away the heaps of snow. Unfortunately, all that water trickles into the cracks in the roads and freezes as a temperatures drop for the night and that leads to…
BAM-CRASH!
… potholes.
I’ve discovered some fairly wicked ones at the Lake Ripple intersection and the entrance to the Dunkin’ Donuts nearby. My road is also showing signs of seeing better days — of course, it never did get fully paved.
Where do you think the DPW should be patching?
Have you been over Willard Street lately? It’s AWFUL, mostly because of previous patch jobs that just wash away and get even worse! Lower North Street is awful too. Not holding my breath that they will ever actually re-pave these roads!
Westboro Road (over by Ron the Barber) is horrendous. A few yrs back, I hit a pot hole on that road. I had to replace a rim because it actually bent. I thought my teeth were going to fall out when I hit that baby!
I called to town to complain (I know, what was I thinking) and they told me if they knew about the pot hole, they would have filled it. I told them, if I knew about the pot hole, I wouldn’t have hit it!!
Can’t fight city hall….or town hall in this case.
Info on reimbursement for pothole damage: http://www.lawlib.state.ma.us/potholes.html
I’ve written/edited many stories on pothole damage over the years — there should be a form available to file a claim at the town hall in the town where the damage occurs. State roads can be a little trickier.
Jenn, where were you 3 yrs ago!
They basically told me it was an act of God!
Oh sure, blame God!!
I live to inform! The law can be a little tricky, if you look at that link — the town may get off if they can prove they had no knowledge of the pothole. But that’s all the more reason to report really bad ones (and post them here… they’ll be date-stamped.
).
Ok, I’m officially reporting the one over on Westboro Rd by the train tracks. Actually, they could just patch the entire road.
Also, Creeper Hill Rd is a mess. They put in a sewer line for the condos on the street. Now, where the road was patched back in the fall has sunken in. Great job tamping down the gravel, NOT.
You take a risk of getting swallowed up!!
I drive up and over Brigham Hill everyday and it’s like a bumpy roller coaster. It’s been bad since they put in the storm drains, but since the winter it’s gotten much worse. I hope they are planning to pave it and not just leave it as a patch job.
I’d second Willard St. Taking Willard to the commuter rail shaves 5 minutes off my morning commute, but every year, early spring it becomes impassible and I have to take Institute around for a couple weeks until the DPW does their patchwork. The weather born potholes are terrible, but then you start getting other washboard potholes around them leading to whole pothole communities!
I don’t think any amount of patching will help Lower North St. It just needs to be ripped up and redone from Bicknell to Wesson, the worst stretch being the last 100 feet before Wesson.
North St? Hmmm, you obviously don’t mean the section near from the middle school to the common? Oh wait, one of our selectmen lives there as well as our shotgun-loving-bambi-hating state rep. That was the section of North St to get repaved last year. I don’t think the really bad section of North St will get fixed and there is a lot more traffic due to the commuter station. Also beware of a pothole on Carroll Rd. near the long driveway with the stone pillars near the road.
Wow, been there…mom, such animosity toward our state rep. yikes. Does the Board of Selectment really decide on which roads get paved? Or is that the decision of the Highway Dept? I know one of our Selectman lives on Brigham Hill Rd. You’d better pray you don’t get a blow out on that road. I don’t see that road being paved anytime soon. Maybe it’s worth a call to the Highway dept to ask about the section you are worried about.
The Board of Selectman does not make the decision on what roads get fixed or in what order. The DPW had a survey of all Town roads completed about a year ago and that survey prioritized the roads based on their condition, use and traffic – every road was rated. The survey identified close to $17M – yes, $17M – in road repairs. Interestingly, most of the damage is related to and/or the result of a severely inadequate or destroyed drainage system; complicated by winter wear and frost damage. The back end of North Street toward Wesson is being put out for engineering (I saw the site surveyors there this weekend.) Willard Street is a priority (again, drainage) – DPW is trying to resolve land/site issues with the Willard Clock house so that the drainage can be put in and the road repaired before it becomes inpassable. Brigham Hill is also a priority (drainage) and you will likely see that work completed and paving done in the Spring when you can do this type of work. As for potholes – call them in – I know DPW crews were out last week patching sink holes, etc… I live on Pleasant Street.