My youngest daughter opened my front door, an action that caused her daughter to cry out, “Mommy!” Myah ran to the door and plowed into her mother; Lauren apologized for her late arrival. “I had to put air in all FOUR of mom’s tires. The potholes on Arlington can swallow minivans full of kids!” I chuckled and gathered Myah’s clothes for her trip home. And remembered an earlier time in that day.
That Thursday, I was watching some erratic driving as westbound cars swerved left and right on East Washington street as they neared Shadeland Ave. I pointed out the shenanigans to my friend and Paula Nicewanger commented, “There are a lot of chuckholes on this street.” I then realized that the drivers were executing what I have come to think of as “Road Hole Avoidance” maneuvers.
I returned to Indiana after a 12-year sojourn in St. Louis Missouri, and moved to the Irvington neighborhood in 2013. In a column published on March 6, 2014, I wrote of “Pothole Madness.” I noted that, as I traveled East Washington Street from Sherman Drive to Shadeland Avenue, all of the cars were concentrated in the left-hand lane to avoid the holes that had developed near the curbs. As an erstwhile pedestrian on Arlington Avenue, I have experienced firsthand the massive sloshing that can come from a car pounding into and floundering out of a pothole. The winter of 2014 was apparently a trial, and “many of the streets (had) failed the test.” I think that few people would find that the winter of 2023-2024 has been much of a trial. But recent freezes and thaws have opened — and in some cases, reopened — holes in our paved streets, and some diligence must be exercised as we navigate the tar.
The recent Thursday that I referenced was the first time this winter that I had seen what I dubbed “The Steel Ballet.” I wrote of that phenomenon in a June 9, 2022, column of the same name, where I chronicled the deftness with which Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania drivers navigated the winter potholes, swerving in unison to avoid damage to the undercarriage and the carrying away by pavement, of mufflers and tailpipes. In that column I also recalled the “monstrous divot” that had developed where Pleasant Run Parkway Drive intersects with Arlington Avenue, and how some impatient drivers, eager to circumvent the 25 mile-per-hour school zone restriction, would plunge into the hole.
Some online community pages are alight with outrage at the city’s progress at filling, tarring, and tamping the holes that winter’s contractions and expansions create in a roadway, feeling that progress is too slow. I cannot imagine what might please some of the gripers, other than “Immaculate Refillination.” (I made that up.) We must try to be patient as we wait for the fill-up. Just as there is no “big gulp” option when we fill our gas tanks, there is no instant “fill, cover and tamp” when potholes reports are called into the Mayor’s Action Center pothole reporting line (317-327-4622). According to a recent news report, more than 20,000 potholes have already been filled, with at least 2,500 open requests pending. Just because we don’t see the trucks on our street does not mean that no one is trying.
Some of the streets in my hometown are still paved with cobblestones, and if you want to compare rough rides, spend some time bouncing downhill on those rounded stones, the reason every car in Pittsburgh is raggedy. But in Indianapolis, we must remember: When a street has been “rode hard,” it will develop “road holes.”
cjon3acd@att.net