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This pothole could cost you $500
Pioneer Press ^ | 2-26-14 | John Brewer

Posted on 02/26/2014 4:46:00 AM PST by TurboZamboni

Jonathan Kealing was on his way to the dog groomer Sunday morning when his car hit a line of potholes on eastbound Minnesota 62 in Minneapolis.

"We hit some normal potholes, then it got so intense. We slammed into this chasm in the Earth," Kealing said.

It wasn't until a stop later in the morning that he saw just how intense: The rim was no longer round, but flat, and the tire couldn't hold air.

After getting a $500 repair bill from the auto shop, Kealing took to Twitter to alert the Minnesota Department of Transportation to the situation.

"Dear @mndotnews: The potholes are so bad on Hwy-62 b/t Cedar and 28th Ave that it bent my wheel and trashed my tire. Pls fix ASAP," he wrote.

And given the weather's impact on metro-area roads, Kealing is not the only one needing repairs.

(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Local News
KEYWORDS: gastax; mn; potholes; roads; taxes; trains
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But the preezie is here today to tell us we need to spend more on choo choo trains("transit") and raise taxes.
1 posted on 02/26/2014 4:46:00 AM PST by TurboZamboni
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To: TurboZamboni

Local and state governments are just as bad with the money or worse.

Just last week they announced transportation funding here in Michigan. A county park in Jackson got $2 million to tear down a concrete wall that never should have been built and the county got $750,000 for roads.


2 posted on 02/26/2014 4:57:55 AM PST by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: TurboZamboni

I’d have to know what kind of wheels he had before I decide if I have any sympathy. Normal wheels and tires will get some sympathy. If he had oversized wheels with skinny sidewalls, no sympathy.


3 posted on 02/26/2014 4:58:04 AM PST by PAR35
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To: cripplecreek

Try living in Pittsburgh or the surrounding communities.
Roads here are so bad some look like they have been shelled. And every year its the same. They have no idea how to fix them and instead just throw cold patch in them, tap them down and move on to the next. 2 days later the hole is back.


4 posted on 02/26/2014 5:08:30 AM PST by Yorlik803 ( Church/Caboose in 2016)
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To: cripplecreek

Reporting potholes

http://www.dot.state.mn.us/information/potholes/reporting.html

http://www.dot.state.mn.us/newsrels/04/02/potholes.html

For the years listed, pothole repair spending has gone down every year.

They should just use concrete in the first place.


5 posted on 02/26/2014 5:10:21 AM PST by TurboZamboni (Marx smelled bad and lived with his parents .)
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To: TurboZamboni

Have you driven in downtown Minneapolis? The potholes are so bad, the other day I saw a mountain goat with a sprained ankle.


6 posted on 02/26/2014 5:22:54 AM PST by IronJack
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To: IronJack

I try to avoid going to MPLS.

If I get pulled over for erratic driving, they’ll probably shoot me and throw me in a pothole.


7 posted on 02/26/2014 5:25:06 AM PST by TurboZamboni (Marx smelled bad and lived with his parents .)
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To: TurboZamboni
In a sane world you could get someone out there in 15 minutes to fill the hole with crushed stone as a temporary fix for $2 of stone

But now you have to send a request that goes through 18 levels of bureaucracy up to Washington DC where it then goes to a committee who decides to allocate “funding’ for road repair depending on whether your district voted the right way last election

8 posted on 02/26/2014 5:28:09 AM PST by Mr. K (If you like your constitution, you can keep it...Period.)
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To: TurboZamboni

It’s not just Minnesota. It’s pothole season all over the cold states. I find myself being very careful in trying to avoid them. Not always successful. I will give the DOT credit for trying to patch them recently. But they are pesky little buggers.


9 posted on 02/26/2014 5:29:38 AM PST by McGruff (Every night has it's dawn.)
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To: IronJack
"Have you driven in downtown Minneapolis? The potholes are so bad, the other day I saw a mountain goat with a sprained ankle."

You've got to be kidding. It's been so cold in Minnesota this year that the mountain Goats all migrated to Mexico.

10 posted on 02/26/2014 5:32:14 AM PST by norwaypinesavage (Galileo: In science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of one individual)
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To: Yorlik803
They have no idea how to fix them and instead just throw cold patch in them, tap them down and move on to the next.
11 posted on 02/26/2014 5:33:30 AM PST by SoothingDave
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To: Yorlik803
They have no idea how to fix them and instead just throw cold patch in them, tap them down and move on to the next.

How do you suggest that they fix them?

12 posted on 02/26/2014 5:33:52 AM PST by SoothingDave
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To: SoothingDave

well, first you get the water out. And then clean the hole and dry it and hot patch it. Sometimes you have to make the hole bigger and make it square. Seal it up and move on.
Sure it is a little more involved but its better than going to the same hole time after time.
But Its a Busy work project for union road crews.


13 posted on 02/26/2014 5:40:08 AM PST by Yorlik803 ( Church/Caboose in 2016)
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To: Yorlik803

Hot patch? In February?

The surface and the air temperatures are too cold for hot asphalt. That, and there are no plants making hot asphalt this time of year, because of that.

Do you really think they don’t patch potholes properly just to keep themselves busy?


14 posted on 02/26/2014 5:45:38 AM PST by SoothingDave
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To: SoothingDave

I know that for a fact. They call it job security. its Government workers. Most are either lazy political hires or are counting the days til they retire on their fat pensions.


15 posted on 02/26/2014 5:47:41 AM PST by Yorlik803 ( Church/Caboose in 2016)
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To: Yorlik803

Just to be clear, you don’t think the laws of physics have anything to do with it? It’s all a conspiracy?


16 posted on 02/26/2014 5:59:01 AM PST by SoothingDave
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To: SoothingDave

Fixing potholes (even when it is cold) isn’t rocket science. Government “workers” are just acting-out their bad attitudes and not really giving-a-damn.


17 posted on 02/26/2014 6:09:03 AM PST by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
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To: SoothingDave

you think what you like. You go and believe that government workers are the best and brightest.
An example of the best and brightest. I have a small water leak across the street from my house. Monday the City of Pittsburgh sent a crew around. They came, looked and shrugged and drove away. Now half of my street is a sheet of ice and we haven’t seen a salt truck here.
Its still leaking. Guess they are waiting for a full blown gusher to wipe out a few houses before they act.
As for fixing potholes, its all a PR stunt to make Pittsburgh mayor look good. But in two or three days the potholes are back like they didn’t do a thing.
I may not know a lot about fixing potholes, But I am not the one getting paid big bucks to do it.


18 posted on 02/26/2014 6:09:37 AM PST by Yorlik803 ( Church/Caboose in 2016)
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To: norwaypinesavage
"Have you driven in downtown Minneapolis? The potholes are so bad, the other day I saw a mountain goat with a sprained ankle."

You've got to be kidding. It's been so cold in Minnesota this year that the mountain Goats all migrated to Mexico.

Around here the potholes are so big I saw a man the other day fishing for bass out of one. Cold? He had to cut a hole in that pothole to get his line through the ice and threw up a little cabin on top of it to keep warm....

19 posted on 02/26/2014 6:22:27 AM PST by freebilly
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To: cripplecreek
Navy Base in Millington TN BUPERS installed these last summer, they cost $7K a piece in the 5 mph parking lots of Commissary and Exchange.

A total waste of money. You can't even do pull through parking in the parking lots, your plate has to be visible, and they patrol it often. You don't speed on the base, TICKETS get issued quite frequently, worse speed trap in the US. It is hard to go 15 miles prh for long. I'm quite sure they also went up in on the other branches of the Military along with some more unneeded monuments to know one.

20 posted on 02/26/2014 6:32:25 AM PST by GailA (IF you fail to keep your promises to the Military, you won't keep them to Citizens!)
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