What Is PBOT Going To Do About All the Gnarly Potholes Left by the Ice Storm?

You could lose a Fiat in one of those things. Can we fix them, or is this the new normal?

Last week you reported that PBOT has just enough money to keep our streets in their current state of disrepair. What about all the gnarly potholes left by the ice storm? You could lose a Fiat in one of those things. Can we fix them, or is this the new normal? —Street Hassle

Fiats, hobbits and other wee creatures of the heath need have no fear, Hassle—soon enough, the potholes (and the Balrogs that lurk within) will be but a distant memory.

The Jan. 10 storm unleashed a larger-than-usual cohort of winter potholes in city streets, but when I said the city allots just enough cash to keep the roads from getting worse, this is pretty much exactly what I was talking about. Crews are already working hard at patching new holes, most of which will be filled by spring.

It's worth noting, though, that if our roads were truly in top-notch condition (a boast no American city can make, but whatever), we wouldn't get potholes in the first place.

Related: WTF Is Up With the Roads in This Town? Any Plans to Ever Maybe Get Them Fixed?

Potholes are caused by water seeping into cracks in the roadway and freezing. The expansion of the freezing ice effectively chisels the roadway apart.

But in an ideal world of limitless funding, where the Willamette runs with $100 bills and City Council members lay Fabergé eggs, all our roads would be freshly surfaced and crack-free, and potholes wouldn't be able to form.

Back in reality, we got potholes. If you feel like yours are being overlooked, let the city know. There's even a smartphone app, PDX Reporter, that lets you do so in seconds—select "pothole," allow the app to take a picture of the pothole and grab your location from GPS, and you're done.

Of course, you can still call them the old-fashioned way. But city employees are busy, and you know that call that starts as a pothole report is just going to degenerate into a rambling diatribe about how your grandchildren never visit. Use the app.

Questions? Send them to dr.know@wweek.com.

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