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LOCATION: Southeast 28th Place, between Cora and Holgate streets
SUBMITTED BY: Ethan Rank and (later) Erin Hynes
HOW THEY FOUND IT: Rank and this monster pothole are both newcomers to 28th Place. A newly minted lawyer, Rank moved to Portland in January to take a job handling workers’ compensation claims. The pothole opened up after that month’s ice storm.
“I haven’t seen anyone work on it,” Rank says. “They just keep adding signs as it gets bigger.”
Signage has gone from one cone to one cone and two A-frame traffic barricades.
Rank says he’s afraid to get too close. And with good reason. The vortex has cracks all around it, like space-time being warped by a super massive black hole. And it’s collecting debris: a McDonald’s wrapper, caution tape and a Humphrey the hamster children’s book.
“I’ve never seen a pothole I couldn’t drive over,” Rank says. “It’s pretty sketchy.”
In an optimistic take, Rank describes a hole with benefits. It slows traffic as well as any speed bump could, and it makes an interesting attraction for visitors: “I take people out to see it.”
Also, Rank thinks his workers’ comp training could come in handy if anyone gets hurt fixing the thing. But first, someone has to show up, which, as far as he knows, hasn’t happened yet.
CURRENT STATUS: Crews keep adding more warning sign around the hole.
This pothole now advances to the Hole Patrol Winner’s Bracket. Each week in April, WW will select another reader-submitted pothole to move into the winner’s bracket, where it will be evaluated by our crack team of asphalt researchers using a proprietary methodology (we’ll probably measure it). The person who submits the city’s biggest pothole will receive a splendid prize. Send your entries to newstips@wweek.com.