McNaughton: Lawrence drivers break for pot holes
Farther outside of campus, around the student ghetto, the roads almost get worse.
Thursday, March 6th, 2008
I’m driving down the road bumping Kanye West’s Graduation cd and applying lip gloss. “That that don’t kill me, can only make me strong...”
BAM!
I smear lip gloss on my cheek and my CD player cuts out for about three seconds. Was it because my NASCAR-like driving skills during multi-tasking caused a wreck?
Or was it a squirrel?
It was none of them actually. Rather, it was an all to familiar encounter for me and my car with one of Lawrence’s most notorious street characteristics: potholes.
We’ve all taken that corner too sharply while not paying particular attention until one of our front tires slams into a mini-gorge in the road, then we curse the free world.
Although the city has a reported $5.3 to $5.4 million budget, it may appear to most that not much of that budget is actually going to street repair. According to Dena Mezger, the city assistant for public works, a major part of that money is used on in-house materials and the major contracted projects every year, which include concrete and curb replacement.
I believe our cars can testify to the effectiveness of those “replacements.”
Potholes work likes this: Ice expands and when moisture gets under the concrete turning into ice, during the freeze-thaw cycle during expansion, it pops the pavement up.
Growing up in Kansas, I’ve been well aware of the versatile range of weather we experience here. These past couple years have been colder and harsher than usual.
I may be a country girl with little knowledge regarding the concrete and pavement business that big city men are involved in, but I’m just curious why there hasn’t been a more effective process implemented to prevent the extreme rise of potholes during the winter months.
Areas around campus especially have treacherous potholes littered up and down the streets. I found certain areas in particular that appear to do the most wear and tear on a car. Go south down Mississippi street away from 9th street and there are at least six noticeable chunks of road missing. Jayhawk Boulevard by the Union is screaming to be filled in.
Continue south on Mississippi Street and curve around on Memorial Drive by Potter Lake and it gets even bumpier with the road uneven and baby potholes loudly making their presence known.
The Jayhawk Bookstore at the top of the hill was surrounded by a couple of massive potholes on the corner of Naismith Drive. They’ve been filled, however, for now. Not paying attention going around that corner made me cringe; the loud thud it made sounded as if it did irreparable damage.
By Allen Fieldhouse and the SRFC, the roads aren’t too bad, for on campus. But farther outside of campus, around the student ghetto, the roads almost get worse. I have to go down Ohio between 13th and 14th streets every day, and my car sounds like it’s going to poop out on me every time for subjecting it to those painful blows from the potholes.
The city says it seals cracks every year, but my behind is still feeling the bump. It’s cold. I know, and we’ve only had a few warm days in which those wonderful city men can get out and save our cars from the agony, but is there no way end this annual cycle? Perhaps the city could take the millions of dollars that it is asking for to build the Oread Inn and use it to re-pave our streets.
McNaughton is a Topeka junior in journalism.
Discussion
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Don't you people do research? Why don't you interview someone in the Public Works department who will glsdly explain why they don't fill the potholes as they appear in the winter. It's part of living in an area that gets freezing weather.
How about a letter about that sushi place on 23rd who refuse to fix the holes in their parking lot. Those are potholes directly linked to the owners cheapness.
Oh man, those Yokohama potholes are ridiculously awful. It's too bad really, since I love sushi, but refuse to give even their New Hampshire location patronage until they quite being such cheapskates and fix their damned parking lot at the 23rd Street location. Sheesh.
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