By DENNIS G. KOLAR


Guest Opinion

The Road Commission for Oakland County (RCOC) patches a lot of potholes.

In fact, we’re out nearly every working day patching potholes on the largest county road system in Michigan — more than 2,700 miles — plus the 230 miles of the heaviest traveled, multi-lane state highways in Michigan that we maintain for the Michigan Department of Transportation.



Questions come up frequently related to potholes. Residents sometimes see our pothole-patching crews pass up small potholes while filling larger holes, and wonder why we do that. The answer is we have to prioritize our activities. Our revenues have fallen over the last 10 years, while the cost of maintaining roads has increased dramatically.

As a result, we have had to reduce our staffing levels. Today, we have 113  employees. Of those 113, about 50 are employees who could have been assigned to fill potholes. We thus have fewer patching crews while our deteriorating roads yield more and more potholes.

Consequently, we have been forced to prioritize which potholes we patch first. We frequently get reports from citizens of “wheel-busting” potholes. That means that our crews, when en route to these potholes, will sometimes drive past smaller ones that are not likely to cause damage.  Once we have taken care of the “wheel busters,” we return to take care of the smaller ones. Our workers hand shovel more than 5,000 tons of patch material a year.



People also ask why it sometimes takes one or two weeks or more to patch a pothole within a subdivision, once a resident has notified us of the hole. Again, the answer is prioritization. Unfortunately, because of the deteriorating road system, we often must spend days on end focusing our pothole patching on the main roads. This can prevent us from getting into subdivisions for pothole patching as quickly we would like.

Finally, people ask why some of our subdivision roads have so many potholes. Since the Road Commission does not receive enough funding to resurface the deteriorating main roads, there is no way it can pay to resurface subdivision streets. RCOC does not resurface residential roads unless the residents are willing to pay for the resurfacing through a special assessment district (SAD).  If residents would like more information about the SAD paving process, call our Subdivision Improvement and Development Division at 248-645-2000, ext. 2270.



I wish I could report that the pothole situation is going to change soon, but unfortunately I cannot. In fact, it’s probably going to get worse. We expect to continue to lose staff for the next several years, which means fewer crews will be available for pothole patching, and it will take us longer to patch potholes. Additionally, the roads will continue to age, and we’ll remain unable to resurface all the roads that need resurfacing. That will mean more failing pavement and, therefore, more potholes.



We don’t like this situation any more than you do, but it’s the reality we have to live with. If you want to do something, please join us in urging our state legislators to increase funding for roads.



Dennis G. Kolar, PE, is deputy managing director/county highway engineer for the Road Commission for Oakland County.

http://www.theoaklandpress.com/articles/2011/07/10/opinion/doc4e14eed82fcf0154440464.txt