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Subscribe to RSSA single pothole in California damaged more than two dozen cars in one day during a recent storm.
“It’s not safe for drivers out there. Everyone is getting into accidents,” Nisha Jethi, one of 25 drivers who had their car damaged by the crater on Highway 4 near Pittsburg, in the Bay Area.
The massive crater on the road left her with a flat tire, two busted headlights, and a day of lost wages.
Jethi said she intends to add her name to a list of roughly 1,500 local drivers who file damage claims with the state each year.
Despite the high cost to the state, it can take several months before Caltrans, the agency responsible for highway maintenance, is able to repair a pothole after it has been reported, according to an investigation by NBC Bay Area.
Caltrans estimates that it should take 10 days on average for maintenance crews to fill a pothole identified by drivers through a service request. But when NBC Bay Area filed its own request, Caltrans took more than six weeks to fill the potholes identified on Highway 101 in San Francisco.
Other drivers are experiencing even longer delays.
‘A waste’
Caltrans records show that the agency has paid more than a million dollars to Bay Area drivers filing claims since 2009.
“Those are dollars that could be used for new roads and making sure the right kind of infrastructure is in place for safety,” said Contra Costa County Supervisor Federal Glover. “When you are paying out those types of claims, it is a waste.”
Although Caltrans denied NBC Bay Area’s requests to speak with a maintenance manager, the agency reiterated the importance of safety in a statement: “Safety is our number one concern as we repair guardrail, median barriers, and potholes on California’s busy highways.”
Records show that there had been several requests for service along Highway 4 in Pittsburg earlier this year. That was before Jethi’s car was damaged from a pothole, which was made worse by heavy rain the day the 25 cars were taken out.
“It’s their problem. If something is messed up in your house, it’s your responsibility to fix it,” Jethi said.
The pothole that damaged Jethi’s car has since been filled. She says she’ll be sending the bill for her damages to Sacramento.
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If it's that big of a pothole, you mean the drivers couldn't drive around it and avoid it? Duh!!!
New Headline coming out of California: City worker loses his head will looking for pothole!
Well, I could see one of those pot heads going into Cal Trans office and shooting up the place, just to get attention for the pot hole. Then everyone would be mad at him, not Cal Trans.
Blame the supervisors for all the time delays. Better yet, haul their a##es out there and make them work like the worker bees do. He might appreicate their labor, and realize that this work has to be done fast, not six weeks down the road.
If the pothole is big enough to stop your car, then one would think you'd see it a mile away and go around it. I keep thinking of the Indiana Jones movie where they came out of the tunnel and drove into the hole left by the plane that dropped a bomb...lol!
Do you want lower taxes or roads fixed?
They got higher taxes and the roads still aren't fix. LMAO
We have state road maintenance, but they know when they are overwhelmed and hire local contractors to catch up. California, being as broke as they are, probably couldn't get a contractor to do it for failure of payment.
I went to California for vacation last July. I thought the roadways were in terrible shape and filthy too! I couldn't believe how many potholes on the freeways. I had to wonder where all the huge tax dollars they collect was being spent.
Photo of the pothole or GTFO.
Pot hole or sink hole?
I avoid 4 if at all possible, which usually puts me through the Caldecott.
They should raise the taxes so they can fix these things
Raising taxes only puts more money to the disposal of these spending freaks. The legislature needs to learn how to manage a budget, not how to expand it!!!!
Remember the days when California had the best highways in the U.S.? When did the problem begin? Has the California budget absorbed the money from the sale of fuel to the point where there is nothing left for road repairs? Stop spending money you don't have!! I am ashamed to be called a "Californian" when it comes to the State budget. Get your act together, Legislature. You folks just aren't for real!