Weather Causes Potholes in Roads in Central Illinois
But the students, teachers, and parents here at Urbana High School (UHS) are not necessarily worried about that. What they are really worried about is the conditions of the roads in our town.
Every day, dozens of students drive to school, get rides to school, or learn drive in school via the Driver’s Education program. And right now the roads in Urbana aren’t in the greatest of conditions. Potholes are the main concern of the city.
A pothole is when a huge chunk of the pavement of road becomes dislodged and leaves a hole in the road and it can be very damaging to car if it is hit in the right spot.
I personally have been a victim to these potholes, in Nov. 2012 I came around a corner and there was a huge pothole that was unavoidable due to other traffic in the area. When I hit the pothole it did not seem like a big deal at first but upon further inspection that night my cars radiator was dented in half and all of my antifreeze had leaked out. For people who do not know, that is very, very bad.
In order to keep our citizens, and more importantly our learning drivers safe, the City of Urbana Public Works Department (UPW) has to keep all of these roads on very close watch. The only problem is that they also have to run the snowplow service in the city too.
When a snowplow hits a patched, or fixed, pothole in the road it tears it up and reveals an even deeper pothole than before. And the UPW cannot just leave our road unplowed, that is even more unsafe than potholes. So any change they make is considered a temporary change because the second we receive snow, the roads will become messed up yet again.
It is truly a vicious cycle, one that probably will not be done until spring. Historically, Urbana usually has a big snowstorm every March, like in 2013 when it resulted in an extra day added on to spring break.
UPW Worker and Snow Plow Driver Troy Richmond said, “It has been a long winter so far, but Public Works is really doing the best job we can with fixing the roads.”
Richmond later went on to give a couple tips when it comes to driving on these roads.
He said to always avoid Windsor Road due to structural faults that will not be fixed for a few more months, and to always drive on the left hand side away from the curb. The final tip he gave was one of great importance. It revolved around telling the difference between potholes and puddles during thunderstorms like the one we recently had on Feb 20th.
The trick is, he said, is to look for loose gravel. If there is loose gravel around the area of the puddle, than that means that it is a pothole filled with rainwater and it should be avoided at all costs. If there is no gravel that means it is just a puddle and while it still should not be driven through, it is not as damaging as a pothole could potentially be.
So there you have it, the inside scoop on the conditions of the roads here in Urbana. Just remember the three tips and to always be cautious of where you are and who is around you. Sometimes it is better to hit a pothole than it is to swerve out of the way and hit a car in oncoming traffic. Just be sure to be careful out there Tiger Drivers!
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