OPINION — Editorial

Potholes: care and prevention

Arkansas motorists are rapidly improving their road-handling techniques by practicing the latest rage: dodging potholes.

They're everywhere. A road that was smooth as glass yesterday is capable of turning into a nasty nest of lumps and bumps overnight--that's how fast potholes can develop. Damage goes beyond involuntary exclamations of words not welcome in polite society to include messing up a car's alignment, flat tires, sidewall bubbles, scraped or bent wheels, and torn-up exhaust pipes and mufflers, to name a few.

Why are potholes everywhere? Heavy rain. The website yourmechanic.com instructs us that potholes occur when soil compacted beneath pavement becomes weakened or displaced. They're prevalent in winter and spring, when ice and lots of running water disrupt base layers under the pavement.

As cars drive over these weak spots, the pavement deforms, cracks, and chips away, leaving a hole in the road surface. Potholes start small then grow as traffic hits them, thus becoming deep or large enough to damage a car.

According to a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, as the rain continues hereabouts, potholes that were previously patched need to be patched again. It's like the movie Groundhog Day--the same situation occurs over and over, day after day. Until spring brings warmer weather, permanent repairs aren't possible. Fixes taking place now are temporary.

As much as we'd all like to blame our local and state governing bodies for being lackadaisical about our wretched roads, it turns out they're doing what they can. Little Rock Public Works has multiple crews out every day. So does ArDOT.

Drivers can help by doing what many of us enjoy doing anyway: Complaining. Little Rock residents can report an outbreak of potholes to the city's Public Works Department by calling 311. State highway travelers can do the same on the website iDrivearkansas.com.

Here's another route to safer driving, as well as a method of alerting the authorities to other non-emergency issues:

Visit www.arkansasonline.com/fixit, click on your central Arkansas city of choice (Little Rock, North Little Rock, Sherwood, Jacksonville, Maumelle, Benton, Bryant), drag the orange pop-up marker to the location of the problem, and submit information--as detailed as possible, attaching a photo if you can--about locations of potholes, graffiti, busted streetlights, missing signs, and the like, and an email will be automatically sent to alert someone who, hopefully, will care.

Editorial on 02/27/2018

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