Here is a poem I wrote last week to cheer a friend who had just driven to Burlington and back to Lyndon and was sick of potholes:

The Pothole

Black, black, black is the pothole's heart!
His soul is evil from the start,
And as the snow and ice retreat,
He's lying there beneath our feet.

Ready to cause our car's demise
When rounding a corner in surprise,
We find, not pavement, alas alack,
But a hole in the road, a potential flat.

Frost heaves and wrinkles both grey and black,
Like an elephant's ankles, or an old coal sack.
But the crumbling edges of holes in the road
Have no parallel image to soften the load.

They exist, I am sure, to make us believe
That winter is really reluctant to leave.
And the joy that is felt by mechanics around
Is the only redemption I possibly found.

Isobel P. Swartz
March 27, 2008

Embarrassing. A friend who was visiting from out of town the other day was riding with me as I navigated my way down Memorial Drive, Berlin Street, and River Street in Montpelier. He was amazed at how pour the conditions of the roads were leading into our state capitol's city. He asked if I was embarrassed by the roads and the image it presents to visitors. My answer was simply yes, as I swerved into the opposing lane to avoid another car grabber.

There are so many potholes, cracks, breaks, and asphalt death cookies all over the road that it is impossible to avoid. I'm just waiting for the one that causes terminal damage to one of my vehicles. If the roads are going to be this bad i say tear them up and leave 'em dirt. At least they will have that rustic Vermont feel.

Bad Roads are Good Policy!
I heard someone say this once in reference to the building of sustainable communities. It's not a black and white issue and I don't buy into entirely, but it is certainly worthy of debate. There is a simple truth here: The easier and smoother we make commuting and traveling, the more likely we are to live far away from where we work and shop etc.. By expecting perfectly smooth roads that we can travel 70 mph on without spilling our coffee, aren't we just endorsing sprawl? It wouldn't be so much of an issue if it were cheap, but the transportation budget is huge. Let's have a discussion about the "outside the box" idea of letting our roads deteriorate a little, and using the money for more worthy causes, perhaps more public transportation or rail enhancements. In the meantime, perhaps we will encourage more people to live a little closer to work and school. Pot holes? Slow down...it saves gas too!

I have made an earlier response to this subject and have since been watching the collective groans come in.
(see: http://act...58806.page )

I'm surprised that, up to this point, nobody has pointed to the use of studded tires as a major cause of road destruction. I personally don't think the studded tires are a necessity on established urban streets, highways and county roads. Though, I understand their use on other dirt and backcountry areas. I personally don't use them at all, nor do I have a 4-wheel drive car and have survived my first 2 winters spent here in VT without incident (fingers crossed!).

I cringe every time I hear a car with studded tires driving down a perfectly clean, dry street in the Spring, Summer and Fall - which happens all the time. If the Vermont State government is going to (we all hope) spend major dollars on our roads, restrictions on studded tires must be established! Cut-off dates for usage should be mandated and serious consequences put into action.

One thing that was abundantly clear from VPR's interview with
Brattleboro's director of public works that the durability of their roads are adversely affected by 110,000 pound trucks. I would suggest that before any money is spent to repair their roads that they stop allowing such heavy trucks
on them.

Alternatively, since the the taxes payed by trucks are collected by the state then the state needs disburse those funds to repair roads in proportion to the number of heavy trucks using them.

David, Stowe
Posted by Tim Johnson VPR News Online Producer

Take a ride to NH. Mass. NY. and you will see that these road are in good shape for this time of year. They all have laws on the books that prevent the state goverment from stealing from the state road fund. If Vt. would put every penny it coleceted from the trucks, and tax the cars proportionaly we could all enjoy a beautiful road system with money to spare. But if we continue to steal from the road buget for programs. you know, the kind that pays people to stay home and have more kids instead of finding a job and pay thier fare share. These programs used to be paid by a manufactering economey that used to be here(O by the way thanks gov dean) not everbody can run a B&B for a living or wait tables or work for the state of Vt.the biggest employer in Vt. I've allways had the belief if you don't produce something your bound to fail. Whats happed to our employers? Don't blaim china they didn't tax us to death Vt. did.

Remember the Burlington Pot-Hole Bandit, in the 80's? The roads were bad that year, but nothing like this winter. I travel Rte 15 from Jericho to Burlington and can't remember a winter when the roads have been this bad. If you ask anyone on a town road crew they aren't happy, either. It's been a tough winter for roads that don't have enough maintenance to begin with. I've lost a tire and wheel to the roads this year.
My vote for the worst situation in the greater Burlington area is the Winooski bridge. The outside lane on northbound side is so chewed up that you can't drive it. You could film a Jeep commercial crossing that bridge. Yeehaw! Hang on to yer hats!

I am very dismayed that the condition of the roads gets 100% more coverage than "Winter Soldier" did Roads are necessary and every winter we get potholes. Drive more slowly and you can avoid most of them and save fuel at the same time. The message that the Iraq Soldiers had to share with the world has gone totally unreported. It is not too late to correct this situation!!!!!!

Joan, Fayston
Posted by VPR News Online Producer, Tim Johnson

I live in Montgomery, and if you need to destroy an axle on your vehicle, take a ride along Route 242 over Jay Peak. Good Luck.... Maybe if Howard Dean didn't keep raiding the Transportation Fund to pay for all his special programs, the roads would probably be in better condition

How many miles of our highways are being used by loaded trucks exceeding the weight of the road's designed load?
Craig Kneeland

None if the truck is legal wieght the state desides the roads trucks can and can not go on. If the road is not designed for heavy truck traffic the road is posted by state officals with signs with the accepted wieght for that road if a truck needs to excede the posted wieght it must go throught a permiting prosses and enginers must sign off on the permit with rules for the trucking firm to follow, such as the road must be frozen soild or the road must not show eney signs of moisture sometimes even bridges must be streanthed and so on. You seem to be preoccupide with the wieghts of the trucks you see on the road so lets take a minute to compare. A half ton pickup fully load wieghts about 6100 lbs figure the tire patch is 6" by 7" totaling 42 square inchs per tire times 4 tires for a total of 168 square inches. Take the total wieght of the pickup and devided if by the total square inches of the tire pacth and you get 36.3 pound per square inch on the road.
A truck permited to the maximum legal wieght is 99000 lbs. the tire patch is 10" by 11" totaling 110 square inches per tire times 22 tires comes to 2420 square inches devide the total wieght of the truck by the total inches and you have 40.9 lbs. The difference is less than 15% more per square inch more for the truck. If you want to figure who does the damage to our road system it's easy there are about 7 times more cars regesterd in the state of vermont than trucks. Add up the revenus from the car registration and then add up what trucking add to the buget and you will see that we would have to park a lot of cars to make up for there part of the damage to our roads. There is a reason we call them frost heaves because thats what they are not truck heaves.Thanks

I lobbied against the Interstate system in the 1950's. I thought then that the system would destroy passenger rail, the bus system, promote high speeds, up accident rates, urban sprawl etc etc And it did all these things. Montpelier's streets were cobble stones, the street car ran down the center. There is no way we can support the car culture. We haven't enough money.

William, Calais
Posted by VPR News Online Producer, Tim Johnson

Here is my link about my roads.. I wish I'd seen that you were
looking for stories sooner!

http://mac...13_13.html

Diane, Hardwick
Posted by VPR News Online Producer, Tim Johnson

ah,..... Lover's Lane in Northfield - the name evokes a quiet place for young love to bud. But anyone who knows this gem of a "road" knows better. In fact, its hard not to think the name is some perverse play on words as there is no love lost on this short stretch of dirt road cutting the corner from 12A to the access road to 89. Being a Roxbury resident, this is the logical route to the highway when heading north. However, Northfield's unwillingness to pave this road seems almost like a diabolical nose-thumbing at anyone who comes north on 12A to get to the highway. The road can't be more than half a mile from start to finish but at many times of the year the washboard reaches a truly geologic scale and you can only travel at the speed your automatic transmission idles at without inadvertently disassembling your vehicle. The considerable amount of traffic this road gets certainly is to blame for its deplorable condition.

This past weekend my truck was a Lover's Lane casualty and a particularly hard jolt snapped the mounting bracket for the occupant cab on my truck. Several hours of cutting and welding later it's back in action, but not after a few choice words cast towards the underside of my truck on their way to Northfield.

Respectfully submitted in hope that some day we can all love this stream side road as one that is passable.

Sugar Hollow Road in Pittsford is in great shape thanks to the wonderful highway crew. Several years ago, folks used Sugar Hollow to practice for the mud races but it is smooth sailing now due to improvements made over the last few years. Thank you to Shawn and his crew.