Rough roads and potholes

By Michael Barrett

Red Lake Net News

      This time of year is always a tough time for the cars we drive, since no matter where we go, the roads are bumpier than normal, the dirt roads are muddy, our driveways have new ruts in them, and it’s almost impossible to avoid a pothole somewhere.

      A pothole isn’t just a small hole in the road either, but in some cases, six inches or more deep from the tar down to the gravel. You hit those things–many times because they are right on the driving lane and are hard to avoid–and your car is going to take a hard hit. The next thing you know you’ll be needing a wheel alignment or even a new tire, or even worse, you’ll do some undercarriage damage, weaken shocks and struts, or your CV joint will weaken or break.

      Sometimes a person can even lose control of their vehicle by hitting one of them if they’re deep and big enough.

      A person would have to have a photographic memory to remember where everyone is located as well, even just traveling from Redby to Little Rock on the main highway. You travel from Ponemah Point to Big Stone and I’ll bet there have to be at least 100 or more real rough potholes or bumps in the roadway. You make a turn off the main roadway and multiply that figure by two or three.

      The two worse areas for potholes in Red Lake has to be the east entrance to Red Lake Foods and the turn towards the Tribal Council. These areas are bad pothole areas, making cars turning off travel very slow over them. (I guess that does slow people down, however, which is a good thing–but that’s another story.)

      On the day after I was out taking pictures of some potholes for this article, some were already repaired. Particular ones were a couple of them near the junction of Highways 1 & 89. I was advised the Red Lake Tribal Road Department was also starting to repair the tribal roads on the reservation as well, but an emergency came up that slowed them down.

      So what is a pothole really, what makes them, and how are they repaired. The Virginia Highway Department said it best...”Like dandelions in the front yard, there's a fresh crop every year.”

      At Mn/DOT’s website, they say they are “gearing up for pothole invasion.” A rough winter means a rough spring season for potholes, but the Mn/DOT stands ready to cope with the state’s pothole plague. (To view the Feb. 25, 2004 news release, follow this link: http://www.dot.state.mn.us/newsrels/04/02/25pothole.html

       With this winter's below average temperatures and snow-filled days, conditions are ripe for an abundance of potholes to form this spring. The Minnesota Department of Transportation takes a number of steps to ensure the quick, efficient repair of potholes on the state's highways.

      Potholes are created when moisture seeps into the pavement, freezing, expanding, and then thawing. This weakens the pavement. Traffic loosens the pavement even more, and it eventually crumbles and pops out.

      Spring temperatures warm the cold pavement, melting and evaporating any frozen water. This creates air pockets that can eventually cause the pavement to break up. A winter of heavy snow or rain and several freeze-thaw cycles can mean a big pothole season ahead.

      Potholes on interstate highways usually are repaired within 24 hours. Potholes on most other heavily traveled roads usually are repaired within 48 hours. Maintenance crews are constantly on the lookout for potholes, but Mn/DOT welcomes citizen calls and emails about potholes as well. The "younger" the pothole is when it is reported, the more quickly Mn/DOT can remove that road hazard.

      If the pothole is on a reservation street, call the Red Lake Roads Department. If the pothole is on a state highway, Mn/DOT should be notified, or email them at the following page: http://www.dot.state.mn.us/newsrels/04/02/potholes.html.

      During cold weather, temporary repairs are made with cold patch asphalt, because the weather is too cold to use hot asphalt. During warmer temperatures, hot asphalt is used for more permanent repairs.

      Roads with high traffic volumes have more potholes than others due to the sheer amount of use. Bridges and ramps, which receive heavy doses of snow removal chemicals all winter, are more prone to potholes, too.

      Roads today are being built to reduce their moisture capacity, and researchers are working to develop a better, more durable pavement. Researchers also have improved the cold-patch asphalt so those patches last longer.

The Red Lake Tribal Road Department

      Even with six full-time and one part-time staff and the help of two work contract workers: 1 for heavy equipment operation and 1 for the office to handle some administrative and office duties, it takes a good amount of time to do all the salt/sand for ice control & snow removal on all paved and unpaved tribal roads. Keep in mind there is an increase in lane miles due to new housing springing up (more streets) for the Road Department to handle

      All this sand costs money and all that salt costs even more money.

      When it snows they generally do not go out to immediately push snow off the roadways. As a policy, they generally,wait for it to let up some. The salt and time would be a loss otherwise.

      Some people get upset and wonder why they are not out fighting snow as soon as those flakes begin to fall. There is some good reasonings behind it which will be discussed in another article.

      The Red Lake Road Department handles all Tribal main paved roads and streets first, then the unpaved roads.

      The Cut-off area is high maintenance, and they do need some cooperation from the Red Lake Law Enforcement (re: traffic control) and full cooperation and understanding from the public about "right of way"...really just some plain old courtesy and good common sense. They do try their best to keep up with this area due to the need for emergency and police traffic that need this artery open–and of course for all the casino/bingo workers and players that travel to Red Lake for that purpose, not to forget the people of Ponemah that have to get around.

      They do have equipment that services the Ponemah area. All the equipment operators that go out on that detail take pride and care in going all out to do their jobs, but sometimes that is not good enough for some and they catch it from that side of the lake - that the Department is neglecting them.

      One thing that should be noted is that their base is located in Red Lake and when they need to fuel up or perhaps change cutting edges, they have to travel back to Red Lake to tend to those needs to keep operating. It is worse yet when they have something mechanical go wrong with their equipment, then it usually involves some equipment operators to help out on an unfinished route and others to help out the disabled equipment.

      Red Lake Elders also have a new resource located at the Road Department, newly based elderly maintenance equipment operator, Dennis Smith aka: Duh-Duh. Reservation elders may call and leave their name, contact number, district - general directions as to location with message at (679-3645) concerning their driveways and such. This resource is for all districts. (Dennis just started February 9, 2003) and any comments on his performance are welcome.

      Things currently underway is the posting for Road Weight Restrictions, pothole work, new signs to replace old, vandalized and missing signs,

      As for gravel requests, the ground is still too frozen and such requests won’t be acted upon for a while yet. You may call to be put on the "gravel list" by leaving your name, contact number, district - general directions as to location. This is a courtesy-resource from the Roads for all districts. Please keep in mind that all main tribal road maintenance takes priority over any gravel requests.

      As for the potholes, the Red Lake Road Department will get to them all, and the general public has to acknowledge them and be aware of their safety and their own when they are out there in the field doing their jobs. Give them room to work and use good common sense and safety.

(Nita from the Red Lake Road Department contributed substantially to this article.)