HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014 03-19 Potholes: City crews say it's just the beginning MAPLEWOOD REVIEWPotholes: City -crews,s
ay it's just the -,-beginning
Pot, holes ..
r .
otholes..0 LIAR 1 9 201'4 ;
continued from page 1, some of the depressions that cars have
swerved to avoid. The crew :gave some
continued from page 2 'seen on the side of, enter, the .stormwater
extra attention to a cavity on Seventh
,expect it.to get much worse and car Avenue near McKnight Road. the morn-
repair shops are, already seeing vehicles
road. When exhaust ; sys- system instead: of freez-
terns are worn; out :he 'in and thawing in
multitask as . much as g g
explained, a. faceoff with ' sheets on the.
.iII of March 13 and later etch'
g . patched ed. exp
With suspected.' pothole -related dam= the road `;extensively through he :ci 's
-
iwe can. ».. -streets. .
pothole s can ,make a Due t o . the cold
i age as the underground frost thaws: -and..'muffler
downtown.
large piles- of snow in the boulevards
fly right off. _ -weather and snow,. Oak -
Car tires, suspensions dales budget, like
In :Lake Elmo, city employees usu-
melt.
ally' repaiir potholes and. other roadway
The water freezes as tem eratures di
P R -ideally
.those
take the Jolts Potholes likely _ .,of .other municipalities,,
Although veering "
to get worse -' has already taken a hit.
issues �in.order of priority,. evalu-
at night; seeping into and .expanding ating the problems within' 24 hours.'
around gouges
g g in the Workcuf£ said. the real ."We were burning a lot
cracks and, holes, "aggravating already .theyerred a hazard,.ahe pub-
crater- ocked: roads. Normal_ wear and
p
pavement, a bumpier
p p onset of pothole season, of overtime that way and
commute and. slowing has hardly started. '::. -also' a' lot
g ;of '.
lief works de
tear from the vibrations, of traffiie also partment puts down a
temporary patch. The replacement or
.material,
down near maintenance « Usually the big -,sea- throwing down a lot' of
prompt pavement to -buckle. extensive repair .of ailingpavement
P P
crews .can be annoy- son- is ri ht after -a.: ood- salt," Romanik said.."It
ing g g
for : drivers; the real` be. a
Are corn leted,throw h the street capi-
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City, county, state tai plan.
th w, she said: really got to strain
size thaw,"
headache often comes The Oakdale Public on the budget and all of
g
.improvement
receive complaints The Minnesota Department of ., P ..
Thompson said 'his department's. Transportation.
in the repair service bill Works Department is our resources -- employ -
after the ga-thunk .of hat- . „.
expecting pothole prob ees, Pixel, overtime, salt.
responds to .the .corn
received a handful of calls about pitted
P plaints on state highways and inter -
ting a areal wheel -buster ;erns. ,to : roliferate .with:'
"I p
.
areas along Lakewood Drive in :south `states,. such as. Highway . ,5 that ru s
Maplewood.. That stretch is slate' g. '
through Maplewood .to Oakdale to
reconstruction
.
1, know I m -`dodging, ; °.
the freeze 'thaw cycles Long term
them"'wl en I m; driving."" «The `have yt been maintenance is`ke .
Y y
down the road
said
in 20 6, he said, as . art. so .bad:thisv..eax so'far" 7' Romani said Oak-' Lake Elmo and Highway 36, as wellBruce Maples service Y «
of the city's five-year program to rebuild ' . said Tim :Romanik, street. dale's somewhat aggress
as interstates 694 and 94 which crass- J
certain streets,
r cross in the eastmetro suburbs:.
director at Merit Chev- uperintendent. ```It is',give" street: reconstruc-
The city has also forwarded" some , Since the hot -asphalt plant opened :
rolet: "You can't avoid
�� - going" to be, a bad year` tion programs help' the
.. up this'. -month. :month in St.,.Paul Mni DOT
Ramsey Co complaint out ;roads maintained b u_
ty, such as WhiteBear have. been
some.
y
A. vehicle recently for potholes as we go' on.., city stay ahead of the
It s going to be slightly game when it comes to
putting down :that
Avenue, ::which Thompson said'. is in::: material which creates 'patches
came in to the Maple,- wor.s:e than an average :potholes.
, P ,
" ``tough shape" from about Beami Avenue "intended:` to last Poi several ' ears
ty Y
to Frost Avenue. The coon s North.St: P c
s okeswoman.Denxse Work uff said,
wood service center with
- year .Thompson said, the
arra e to ,a tare He;said'the five -person spring is - usually, a.
impact. d . g : ;
Paul Road .114 Maplewood is also riddled So far this year, the department. has
with deep holes and cracks, a portion of :an
that was Ixkely caused by ,;erew, eeps an .eye out "wakeup call" on the .
hitting the "side' of a hole for problem. areas, and importance of. keeping.
received average :o£ three. or £oixr
Which have been rep' d: reportso€potholes a - day.
in the road, if not curb, respond- to- complaints. up on street mainte-
according to Maples:
Maplewood recently started offering "Once we et the report wet to
residents the :option to send a text mes- : '�
fig them between 24 and 48 hours,"
Often main drags such .mance:
You can get to where as Hadley; Avenue are. This time.: of , year
" sage or download the Maplewood Tips she °�.
said.. We try, to'fig potholes at the
j#ou damage a fr�m,a or :fixed fx�rs`t - ;is d:efi`nitely ahig
x�sion cepo�. » .
. applications iii order to report a pothole: same time `we're doing.
oin .cleanu We try.
Nbrth.,St.._PAW public works vehicles, g p Y.
'n cy, reminder, he -said. It is
vents that are damaged of Minnesota' spring a reminder of the impor-
can been seen around town, `
_ stopping at Potholes on a e 3
or,b,ent because of severe weather ."often means:. tance:.of transportation
—_ . —
_see
s
impacts,;" he said. pothole .rematches, as_ funding and investment
'$
New tires can cost crews in snowplows .riot just. at the local level,
a., a
��..,
upwards of $1 000 he
2 scrape up the material -but also the county, state
said. According to Mex- ,they put down with pav-' , and federal level.".
it's online pricing, align- ers just. days earlier. - He added, "Without,
.i -ng front suspension ,If we do have to plow good. roads, quality of
costs nearly $100.snow
again, no , mat- life and` economic revi-
Hitting a _pothole ..can ter if we use cold mix talization suffers:"
also knock off Ali: or hot mix, we "can pull
merit, which can -cA us e .the patches that we had Kaitlyn Robb can be
tires to wear out prema-put down," _ 'Romanik ''reached, at 651-748-7814
turely, Maples .said :.
said. "Even though we're and kroby@lillieneivs.com.
".Thin time of year: we g �
. fighting .some of. the ele.- Follow her at ttiuitter.coml
start doing 'free -align-ments with thery zioisture KRobyNews.
�ment checks for; custom-
and frost, we still hope
-ers when the ""'re xn for,, ' the; majority of them
:-service work � because a ;..axe going to stay perma- `
w .
-lot of them 'need adjust en
n l "
. y.
,;meat," he said; adding=., Drainage zs ;another ;
Linda Baumeister/Review :that manufacturers req .. battle forcity crews.
The culprit: water. With sudden melting of this year's snowfall - coupled with
the fact many stormwater drains were still covered with ice - water seeped into
`Alter "and
-o mm and" getting � txr:e . `' Oakdale ' s :,already
;alignment checked annu- cleared between 75
cracks and holes all over area roads p. cycles of #reezin ex and-
a couple g p
off
:ally..,
Ing, its effects were obvious _to those' in even the "smoothest -riding" vehicles.
and 100 storm drains,
He said its also a coaxing the, water to
•
tim emu€filers can be