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Health & Fitness

Pothole Blues, and Ways to Overcome Them

“Dear Potholes – We are waging a war upon you. Sincerely, The Lawmakers and Homeowners of Long Island.

Dear Lawmakers and Long Islanders – Sorry, you lose. Be prepared to shell out big bucks for front end alignments, new tires and major body work. Sincerely, The Potholes.”

Obviously, this sort of correspondence has never occurred. However, to most Long Islanders, it seems like it might have, hidden in some deep recesses of a darkened alley somewhere in a sketchy part of town.

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I don’t know about you, but the potholes seem larger and deeper than any other year in the past. I get that we’ve had our share of snowstorms this winter – it was a doozy of a season, and we are all more than ready to put the Winter of 2013-2014 to bed for a lengthy snooze. However, this was not the worst winter that we’ve experienced here on Long Island. I can recall a particular year when my daughter was still a child where we had upwards of almost 80 inches for the season, back in 2004 -2005. While this past season was just an inch or two short of making the second snowiest winter on Long Island, I don’t recall ever having this many potholes in the ground.

Seriously, I think the potholes are spawning babies, because I’ve seen potholes on roads that were previously undamaged, or were at the least, slightly repaired. Looking at most of the potholes, I can literally see cement, which goes to show just how deep some of these babies truly are.

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I was at the salon yesterday, and the stylist was quite behind schedule. (I didn’t mind – I was reading, so I was already engrossed in something interesting, and didn’t want to break the momentum of the scene that I was reading.) When she called me into her chair, she apologized profusely, stating that her vehicle had met with a rather nasty pothole on the exit ramp of the Northern State Parkway, and she blew out a tire that she had only replaced the week before. The car had to be towed to the dealership, which was in Fort Lee. The stylist now had to find a way back home (to Fort Lee), and was panicking over how to do this without disturbing her husband, who was running their family restaurant. She went on to remark that since she has moved from the Island, she has noticed a dramatic decline in the road care, especially in regard to the potholes. She was wondering if anyone really cared about fixing the roads.

I assured her that the county was, in fact, doing something about the holes, although the response was rather sluggish. I agreed with her that we pay the highest taxes on Long Island, and that we should truly get what we pay for. She said that this was one of the reasons why she and her husband opted off of the Island – very high taxes, with little to show for it.

As I left the salon for the drive home, I managed to narrowly miss landing in the center of a very large pothole in the right lane on Jerusalem Avenue. The last thing I wanted to do was go for more new tires, considering I just replaced two last week, myself. I noticed that there were some fresh patches on Nevada Street in Hicksville; one of the pebbles of black asphalt kicked up onto my windshield, but thankfully, did not do any damage.

I believe that the potholes are actually winning on Long Island. It isn’t enough that they exist. Swerving to avoid falling into one can do several things – it can cause the driver behind you to have to also swerve, because they see you swerving. They might in fact fall into the pothole. The swerving can cause an accident. And that’s one scenario that most of us would like to avoid.

Another scenario that the potholes are causing are the obvious blown tires, as well as throwing front ends of vehicles completely out of alignment. Rocks that are left behind from crumbling asphalt debris act as tiny projectile missiles can shoot up on windshields and cause major damage to the vehicle, as well as to the driver, if the windshield should shatter. Granted, most windshields crackle, but the ability to drive is now prevented until a repair can be made.

Let us not forget to mention the obvious fallout from the repair of said potholes: traffic. Yes, in their infinite wisdom, the county has seen fit to tie up traffic during the busiest times of the day, shutting down lanes on parkways and roadways, in order for the damages to be repaired. Most of the time, I’ve driven past the workers – usually at least five at a clip – who are all standing around, staring at the pothole. Geez, guys, the potholes aren’t going to fix themselves…yes, as a tax payer, it does get my blood boiling. Half the time, the potholes are only patched, leaving large lumps and bumps for vehicles to have to drive over. Pebbles shoot everywhere beneath the vehicle as one drives over the patches. It’s a car wreck, waiting to happen. Literally. Horns are blowing, tempers are flaring, and those who are on the road to work or school or appointments are literally swearing in their vehicles at the inadequacy and ineptness of the local government, who would allow such a thing to come to pass. One wonders whatever happened to working in the evening, during the times when the least amount of traffic is on the road? If it can be done for larger fairways, such as Route 135 southbound, why is it not being done on the Northern State Parkway or Route 25A?

So, besides traffic jams, damage to vehicles and possibly persons, missed or late time to work or other, is there anything positive that we can derive from the pothole situation on Long Island?

Well, for starters, we could all get involved. I’ve considered getting out on my street with a shovel and some tar, but I don’t think that’s quite how to do it. So I’ve figured that we should all get on the horn and contact our local government officials. We should encourage them to take a drive on certain roads where we see the issue to be of the most concern. We should also encourage them to get out on the road and sit for a half hour in traffic that is not moving, only to see their county workers, standing around and staring at holes, or working during the busiest times of the day. We should be asking them to do something about it, and we should continue to ask until we get answers. As it has been said, “the squeaky wheel always gets the grease”.

Another thing that we can do is to thank the officials for at least making progress in getting road crews out on the road to make repairs. In doing so, we offer the old adage, "One gets more bees with honey, rather than vinegar." Compliments do, in fact, go a long way. I, for one, am grateful to see the crews out there, working. It means that the officials are listening.

We could also be sure to take care when driving around those who are in fact working on the road. I am not saying that every time I passed road workers, they were sitting around looking as though they were doing nothing. I am not there at all times, so I do not know what they do, once I drive past them. However, I can tell you that they all look petrified of being hit by a moving vehicle. So, I encourage you to drive carefully when you pass them – no speeding past, so that you ruffle the fabric of their shirts. Take care, and please don’t say anything to them, either. Your frustration is with your government, not with the people who are working for it.

Lastly, we can make notes of the roads that have the most serious potholes, and we can look to avoid those areas. We can find alternate paths to our destinations, and we can also tell others to do the same. We can mention the worst roads to our officials, and encourage them to work on these immediately. We should take steps to drive slowly around the potholes, to avoid causing an accident, and to be courteous to other drivers on the road. And if we do happen to fall into one of the holes, we should try to do it without slamming into it at full speed.

If we can make these small changes, each one of us together can effect a positive change on the roadways of Long Island. Together, we can write that “Dear John” letter to those potholes, which could essentially read like this:

“Dear Potholes – We win. We’re breaking up with you. Goodbye. Sincerely, Long islanders everywhere.”

 

 

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