Pothole Season
By Jami Levendusky

Spring is in the air! Kind of?

Mother Nature seems to be on vacation and having the time of her life at Amusement Park de Yo-yo. Because of her carelessness, we’re feeling the effects of temperamental weather; below freezing with snow flurries one day, 71 degrees and sunny the next. We might as well add a fifth season to our calendar year; the time between winter and spring, the freeze/thaw seesaw , and call it POTHOLE SEASON. Unfortunately for us, this season is chalked full of vehicular damage and possibly even brain damage because of all the bouncing around we do while driving over, around, and through these things! Our highways, city roads, alleys, and even driveways are all susceptible to this morbid climate. What do we do about it, and who is actually responsible for fixing potholes?

If you don’t already know, here’s how potholes are caused. Water flows into the cracks on the road. When the temperature falls below freezing, this water turns to ice and expands. The expanding ice makes deeper cracks in the road and also causes a cavity in the soil below. Once the temperature gets warmer, the ice thaws, leaving an air pocket. As soon as a vehicle drives over this area, putting pressure on the air pocket, the top street layer caves in, creating what we know as the pothole. No highway, city road, alley, or driveway is durable enough to withstand our “typical Iowa climate.”

I know what you’re thinking… “If we can put a man on the moon, why can’t we have waterproof roads?” I was thinking the exact same thing. According to the research I’ve seen, scientists are working on this. However, since we’re just not quite there yet, let’s discuss what we can do while we’re waiting.

When my fiancé and I moved into our “new/used” home this winter, our delight quickly turned into anguish when the alley beside our house opened up into an angry abyss where cars once travelled. Potholes so deep we could have cast a line and caught something. Ok, I’m exaggerating… a little. But seriously, the potholes were big enough to know that attempting to drive over them would be a huge risk. “What are we supposed to do with this?” I did some digging around, asked a few friends and family members, and heard many different answers. “You’ll have to get all the neighbors to put their money together and pay to have it fixed,” “you’ll have to get a truck load of gravel and fill in the holes,” “you’ll have to rake over the holes until they’re level.” None of these answers sounded any good to me. So, I did my own research. And what I found made me extremely happy.

I first checked with Iowa Department of Transportation. I found that they are responsible for interstates and highways. However, while DOT crews travel the state on a regular basis, it’s mostly up to drivers to report the potholes they find. According to the Iowa DOT website (www.transportationmatters.iowadot.gov), we can report interstate and state highway potholes via social media, using the hashtag #IAFillUsIn on Facebook at www.facebook.com/iowadot or Twitter at www.twitter.com/iowadot. They also have phone numbers listed if you would rather call them. Either way, it’s easier than I imaged it would be.

However, since I don’t do much interstate or highway traveling, I went on to find who we should report city road potholes to. The City of Waterloo, Iowa has an easy-to-use webpage form that lets you fill in the blanks to report potholes. They also have listed a direct phone line where those that aren’t as tech savvy can call (and actually get a live person) to make your report. And because I’m such a nice person, I’ll share that information with you now. www.cityofwaterlooiowa.com/potholeaction, 319-291-4267. You’re welcome!

Although I found all of this important and relevant information, I still had no idea what to do about my alley potholes. After finding some frustration with not finding anything from “Googling It,” (because we’re so used to finding anything and everything), I decided to call the City of Waterloo. To my surprise a live person answered the phone, let me know that the city will take care of the potholes at no charge, and was even pleasant to chat with! While homeowners ARE responsible to fix their own driveway potholes, they ARE NOT responsible to fix potholes in the alleys. PHEW! We have a brand new mortgage payment to make; thank goodness we don’t have to worry about the cost of leveling the alley! The City of Waterloo representative took down my information and said she would put us on “the list.” Being put on a list is almost always a sign that, whatever the request, it’s going to take forever and a day to complete. However, I was pleasantly surprised to arrive home from work, only 3 weeks after my call, to find our alley completely flat with no potholes. What a relief!

The time is now, my friends. If you have potholes to report, do it now, before summer road work begins and the hole-filling crusaders get too busy with more important things to do.

Now, if I can just find out how to get new (free) windows put in… I’ll keep you posted. ;)

Photo by Jami Levendusky
Photo by Jami Levendusky
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(Jami Levendusky is a guest writer on kcrr.com. Her views and opinions are not necessarily that of 97.7 KCRR and/or Waterloo Broadcasting. Jami is a citizen of Waterloo, IA with a background in backgrounds. Her slight-of-hand card tricks are typically not so slight-of- hand, but we don't tell her and act surprised for fear of waking the dragon. That's why we let her write this in the first place. Shhhhhh)

(The video below is very much NSFW, but it's funny)

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