Given all the rain we’ve had to date this winter, do you notice any difference with many of the roads around San Diego?
Having grown up on the East Coast, I spent many winters as a young adult dealing with driving in less than ideal conditions. It was not at all uncommon for some roads to have sizable potholes in them as winter dragged on. This was often due to the salt being spread on the roads to minimize danger during ice and snowstorms.
Fast-forward several decades later and I find myself often driving on less than ideal roads in various parts of San Diego.
With no snow or ice to deal with in the immediate area here, it has always puzzled me why the roads get so bad in the wintertime. The recent rains seem to have opened up some notable potholes around town.
This past Friday evening I was returning to the beach area where I live from the SDSU men’s basketball game. The trip from the College Area to PB typically only takes me about 20 or so minutes unless traffic is really bad. As it turned out, it took me nearly 2.5 hours to arrive home.
After watching the game, I got on the freeway once I cleared traffic and was headed for home.
When coming from East County on the freeway, I have the option of going the 5 North or 8 West to my final destination. On this night, I unfortunately chose the former.
As I was winding down my drive home near Mission Bay High School, my front left tire hit a pothole that was a biggie. I did not have chance to swerve and avoid it or I would have hit the car next to me. As such, the front left tire took the brunt of the pothole hit. Next thing I know after the thud is the car is having trouble staying center. I managed to pull into the MBHS parking lot and call for AAA help. Upon further inspection, the rim was damaged too.
What should have been a relatively quick and easy drive home led to an unhappy ending to the evening. That is involving the wait for the tow service and then having to walk over a mile from where the car was dropped off to be repaired to my place.
To say I’m a little irked with the City of San Diego would be an understatement.
I get there are many roads for which they are responsible for. That said, there is absolutely no excuse for potholes that look like small craters to be there on our roads disguised as what in effect for a vehicle can be a land mine.
After getting the car situated over the weekend, found out my bill for the “fun” last Friday evening in total would be about $300. Hmm, wonder if the City of San Diego would like to contribute to that bill on my credit card?
As I was talking to the tow truck driver last Friday evening, he told me they’ve responded to countless flat tire calls in recent months around town, largely in part due to the rainy weather.
With another month or so of potential rainy weather coming our way, no one really knows what the roads will look like as we head into spring.
So, are you happy with the roads you drive or do officials have some answering to do?
