3/4/14 update: Tucson Pothole project founders will take their project to the Tucson City Council on April 8.
Fictional account below, not for the weak of stomach or those with weak car suspensions:
“It was a dark and stormy night in Tucson. You’re driving alone in your vehicle, late at night. Visibility is low, as it has been raining somewhat heavily. There are no street lights on your way home. Suddenly your head lights reveal the danger ahead…a large, looming Tucson pothole, waiting for its next victim. You drive with trepidation, anxious and afraid to proceed– but your car keeps rolling along, unaware of the danger. You attempt to swerve to avoid the pothole, but it is too large and too late, and your right wheels fall precariously into it. Your car shakes badly and you curse (expletive deleted). ”
Just imagine that scenario above if you were riding on your bike at night, with a dim front bike light. Here’s what some UA students are doing to fix potholes in Tucson.
Two University of Arizona students Laura Unklesbay and Korey Cowan have set up a wordpress file for anyone to send in photos of their “favorite” pothole(s), in order to pressure the City of Tucson Street & Traffic Maintenance Dept. to fix them in a more timely manner.
Here’s their mission statement:
There is an enormous amount of potholes seen on the Tucson roads and we believe this needs to be fixed! Send pictures of potholes you see to tucsonpotholes@gmail.com and we will post them on this blog. If you have a story about tripping on a pothole while walking/jogging/biking, etc. we want to hear it!
On March 4th we will be heading over to Tucson City Council to make a speech about the importance of fixing the potholes seen around Tucson. Support us by sending in pictures, stories, or facts you would like us to tell City Council.
Lets get these potholes fixed and help keep Tucson beautiful!
Link to website: tucsonpotholes.wordpress.com, (where you can view photos of some of the ugly potholes in Tucson) with link to City’s maintenance page to report: http://www.tucsonaz.gov/transportation/streets-maintenance.
Laura is one of my professor husband’s students at the University of Arizona, and her father Rick is Chief Criminal Deputy in the Pima County Attorney’s Office. He sent in a pothole photo on the day they began this project, February 22, 2014.
I know the City’s street maintenance # 520-791-3154 by heart, as I called it repeatedly for over a year several years ago to report a large pothole on a street bordering the elementary school in our neighborhood. I was worried about children falling into the hole and spraining their ankles. It was eventually fixed, but it took over a year. Let’s hope these potholes photographed in the Tucson Pothole project website don’t take that long to be repaired.
Good luck to Laura and Korey with this project. Our streets need all the help they can get.
Tucson Potholes project founders decided today to wait till April 8, to take this project before the Tucson City Council. So keep sending in your photos and stories.
Carolyn: The best pothole photo ever – Pima County Supervisor Ally Miller sprawled on the pavement pretending to have tripped in a pothole at the Tucson Weekly. http://www.tucsonweekly.com/TheRange/archives/2014/03/03/ally-millers-911-call-makes-farkcom
I hadn’t seen this Weekly story about Supervisor Miller allegedly falling next to a pothole on her residential street. Thanks for the update. Last night I rode my bike in the dark and fell into a pothole on a dark street , but did not fall off my bike or get injured– thankfully.
Over 1800 miles of streets in Tucson. Mucht of it is deteriorating at an alarming pace. To be paying for street maintenance with bond elections is very concerning. Like paying for your electric bill with your credit card. Also, the pace of upkeep appears to be radically below the pace of deterioration. People dont want to live in a place where the streets are all broken up the way they are around the University of Arizona.