Potholes

This time of year it’s sort of like driving in a minefield. Some roads or streets are so bad you avoid them and go some other way to get to your destination. Hopefully, you haven’t hit one and done any damage to your car. We’re talking about potholes here. It’s part of the price we pay for living in northeast Ohio.

Potholes form when the road surface freezes and thaws. Water gets down in a crack, the cars drive over it and pop out the asphalt. The next thing you have is a big hole, just waiting to eat your tire.

The City of Alliance has one hundred and six miles of streets. If you count two lanes, that’s two hundred and twelve miles of pavement. If you count the streets that have extra lanes like State Street, that brings it up to approximately two hundred and thirty lane miles of roadway. Alliance also has thirty-eight miles of alleys. That’s a lot of maintenance, especially this time of year. Street Department Superintendent Jeff Porter says his crews have put down three hundred and fifty-eight tons of patching material so far this year. But no matter what they do, the holes still appear as if by magic. Fortunately, after the freezing and thawing is over potholes don’t appear as frequently.

This time of year, the Street Department gets about half a dozen calls a week about potholes. They immediately check out the situation to see if it is an emergency or if it can wait until the trucks are out patching potholes. The busier streets are the ones they get the most calls on. The more traffic driving over that little crack in the pavement, the more potholes form. The Street Department keeps a limited amount of HPM (high performance mix) on hand for use in emergency situations. Right now, there are four trucks out patching every day, all day long.

The Street Department says they get more calls on excavation ditches than anything else. It may look like a pothole but it’s really where the water main has broken or storm sewer has been repaired or where a plumber has tapped into a sewer or water line in the street.

If you should hit a pothole and damage your car, make a police report immediately. Then call the Street Department at 823-3133 and report the location of the hole. If you think the city is somehow responsible for the damage, you can pick up a claim form at the mayor’s office at 504 E. Main St. You need to be forewarned though. According to the Ohio Revised Code, Section 2744.05, there is a limit to the damages that can be recovered against a political subdivision, such as a city or a township. Most of the time, it’s more hassle than it’s worth. But you’re welcome to pick up a claim form. Just call the mayor’s office at 821-3110 for more information.