Essay: On Huge PA Potholes
If there’s one undefeated thing in southeast Pennsylvania’s winter, it’s endless fields of potholes. From a cycling standpoint, the full destructive capability is on full display. The holes defy possibility, especially knowing motorists have been caught up hitting them. Add in the long, dark nights, and it’s almost like the far off sound of crunching metal can be heard while pulling up the sheets for bedtime. If drivers understood just how big these potholes really were, it would improve the chances of timely repairs.
But let’s start at the beginning. Here at creakybottombracket.com, we have an unproclaimed endless chirping of PennDOT, our state’s transportation department responsible for road repairs. When possible, we drag PennDOT out into the light to reveal their - numerous - shortcomings. The Headquarters Road bridge sat unrepaired for over a decade, but I-95 was heralded as a miracle repair after a fuel tanker truck destroyed a span of it outside Philadelphia. Ten years versus a week.
Then we have PennDOT’s endless repair existence. I’d stop short of saying they make their own money by producing a shoddy product. Take Wismer Road for instance. PennDOT decided paving binder strips was a decent idea. Think laying strips of bacon next to each other and that’s how Wismer Road looked with a basic layer of asphalt. Only later did they return to chip and seal it.
But PennDOT does not stop there. Their favorite ‘repair’ method is laying a single strip of binder asphalt along the right-hand side of the road. Almost never does PennDOT cover over the binder layer with a surface course. What happens is water wiggling its way into the untreated center seam of the road where it freezes and potholes form. Or, even more likely, the course binder layer invites water to seep into the porous areas. With its unsealed surface, the nearly loose asphalt crumbles quickly, producing yawning chasms of rim-destroying holes. This process magically calls PennDOT out for repairs, and, when they get around to it, they dump hot patch repair until the road seriously rattles your fillings out. On we go around the merry-go-round as PennDOT fixes their own lack of quality work.
It was debated whether to release this article featuring strongly worded stances on PennDOT, but a quick trip across the street to the convenience store showed where the department’s employees could be found: occupying all of the fuel pumps as well as the parking spots at the adjacent pretzel store. Our patience was tested while observing the static employees and trucks, but passing a garbage bucket wrapped with caution tape marking the location of the worst (not the only) pothole was too much to bear. The flashy phone number on the side of the truck produced a smirk, the number a false sense of optimism. The number has been called many times with the same useless response, “That road is not in our five-year plan.” One could easily conclude none of the Bucks County roads are ever on their five-year plan.
It’s not all PennDOT responsible for these hidden pitfalls. Cycling around Bucks County, one learns to see a pothole and follow it up with realizing an overhead tree blocks the sunlight during winter months. River Road still has icicles on account of the sun still hidden behind bluffs. One section of River Road has been repaired for what feels like every other year due to ice melt mixed with constant water runoff.
Therein is the second agent of the pothole mayhem - liquid water. The potholes take on a life of a pond, reflecting its own surroundings and leading motorists into a false sense of a smooth ride. Shortly after encountering the hidden pothole is the loud splash and thud of the tire and wheel crashing through the pothole. If the office is quiet enough, the startled screams of some far off motorist can be heard marking their PA road quarry experience. Often, there’s a slow limp away from the hole as the driver tries to take inventory of what may have fallen off the car. Unlucky drivers are easy to spot. They have their hazard lights flashing and a person changing a flat tire a few meters beyond the trap. We are also in the season of looking for car bumpers or quarter panels in the mine field following a massive pit. Many times, the destruction is delivered. Sometimes, a bonus of a loosed headlight can be found along with a bumper and quarter panel.
We do not take joy in people’s sufferings of potholes. However, one thing is for certain, Bucks County roads, particularly those in PennDOT’s control, are horrific. Regular exoduses from the county reveal smooth roads for miles in central Pennsylvania. How is it possible that roads in the middle of the state insulate themselves from asphalt asteroid craters? Instead of finding an answer, it’s simply proof that PennDOT is capable of creating clean, long-lasting roads.
It is for these hazards, we ride along or in small groups for the time being. It’s not an accusation that local riders can’t point potholes out. It’s more along the lines of how quickly cyclists come upon a pothole and how evasive action is often not an option. There is little desire to rotate to the back of the group only to find ourselves face-to-face with a soul crushing hole that will land both body and bike in the service course.
This past weekend, which was unseasonably warm, ushered trainer-weary riders out onto Bucks County roads. Outdoor eagerness for speed only increases the likelihood of catastrophe. Riders should stick to roads they know well to identify potholes while concocting exit strategies in case lateral rounding is not possible.
As we see it, there are two options: expect PennDOT to improve both the roads and their approach, or learn where the potholes are until they get repaired. We’re not a betting website, but if we were to gamble, we’d bet the office on the second option. If we lost the wager, we may not survive the shock and disbelief, so what would it matter anyway?
