Council must act on potholes

It’s the middle of June, why are there still so many potholes? We all know about the effect freeze and thaw has on the streets. But is that the real problem?

How do Spokane’s thousands of potholes actually accumulate? Over the years, quick, shoddy pothole repair causes potholes to silently accumulate. At first, a pothole or two shows up in newly laid streets. These are poorly repaired with a quick fix. The next year, more new potholes appear along with the old, poorly repaired that show up again. Over a period of several years literally thousands of potholes have accumulated. They become rampant. This is not the fault of the streets department; it’s the fault of the City Council’s approach to street repair.

A solution: The pothole situation is so insidious in its silent progression, that the council should be moved by President Ben Stuckart to pass an ordinance that specifies how poor street repair over the years leads to the accumulation of potholes, and then goes on to specify that the repair of all potholes should be speedy, but, in addition, that the newly repaired road surface should be equal to or better than the original road surface.

Larry Vandervert

Spokane