Potholes

[Jimaz]

Here's a list if you want to avoid car repairs.

Where are the WORST, most dangerous potholes in Metro Detroit? [SEE THE LIST]

Here's a look at our running list {updated 2/22/22}:
I-275 SB at M-14
I-96 WB local lanes at M-39
M-14 WB at Northville Road
I-94 EB at Hannan
I-75 SB at I-94
I-75 SB at Elm [[Monroe County)
I-75 NB north of Laplasance
I-75 SB [[service ramp) at I-96
Middlebelt north of Walnut Lake Road
Davison Ave at Dexter
Wyoming on the ramp to M-10 The Lodge
8 Mile Road and I-96
Gratiot SB at 14 Mile Road
Schaefer and Oakwood
Telegraph SB south of Michigan Ave.
Ecorse west of Telegraph Road
Middlebelt north of I-94
Eureka at John Dingell Srive [[Near Metro Airport)
Eureka at Wayne Road
Geddes Road at US-23
Washtenaw Ave and US-23
Sheldon Road at Joy Road
Ann Arbor Road between I-275 and Plymouth [[Several Potholes)
Merriman and 6 Mile Road
7 Mile Road and MIddlebelt
Square Lake road and Franklin Road
Orchard Lake Road and Telegraph Road
Big Beaver between Dequindre and Ryan Road
Auburn and MLK Blvd.
Mound at 13 Mile Road
Van Dyke and 14 Mile Road
Schoenherr at 14 Mile Road
Haggerty Road from Van Born to Ecorse Road
Dequindre between 8 Mile and 14 Mile Road
Outer Drive from 7 Mile Road to Van Dyke
Canton Center Road in both directions between Warren and Ford Road
I-75 NB and SB at Caniff
I-94 EB ramp to I-75 NB
I-94 EB Service Drive at Moross
I-96 EB ramp to Newburgh
I-96 EB at Novi Road
I-275 SB ramp to M-14 WB
I-275 SB at Ann Arbor Trail
I-275 SB after Cherry Hill
I-275 SB at I-94
US-23 NB at Packard
Merriman and I-94
Newburgh south of I-96
Ann Arbor Road and Newburgh
Utica and Masonic
13 Mile and Schoenherr Road
Pontiac Trail at Ladd Road
12 Mile and Beck
8 Mile at Novi Road
Beck at 7 and 8 Mile Road

[Jimaz]

Pothole season is ravaging Metro Detroit roads – here's what you can do about it

The Michigan Department of Transportation {MDOT} said the best thing drivers can do -- even if they've avoided a pothole disaster or hit one head on -- is to make note of the area and report it immediately....

[Lowell]

I'm reminded of a taxi driver in Jamaica who told me all cabbies in Jamaica are PhD's. Pot hole dodgers, he explained.

[Zacha341]

^ Driving at night only invites more trouble as you cannot see them as well!!

[Cincinnati_Kid]

^ Driving at night only invites more trouble as you cannot see them as well!!

That's a fact. Especially the one's that look like a puddle of water, when a pothole is lurking underneath. I hit one the other day and it rattled my whole existence.

[Zacha341]

RIGHT! I just had my original front struts replaced on one of our used Toyota's. I ain't trying to have all of that jacked!

That's a fact. Especially the one's that look like a puddle of water, when a pothole is lurking underneath. I hit one the other day and it rattled my whole existence.

[GPCharles]

There are some big ones on East Jefferson, particularly near Conner where they are doing some sewer work. Good thing they paved two lanes of East Jefferson in each direction last fall - nothing like a pothole in fresh, new asphalt.

[kuuma]

same reason biking in the winter in this town is just fully not an option. even a little slush can obscure a pothole that would send you cartwheeling.

[Ray1936]

***......and people wonder why I left Detroit for Las Vegas when I retired. Sheesh.

[softailrider]

There are some big ones on East Jefferson, particularly near Conner where they are doing some sewer work. Good thing they paved two lanes of East Jefferson in each direction last fall - nothing like a pothole in fresh, new asphalt.

Not surprised at all. That is why they redo the same streets over and over around here.

[sirrealone]

***......and people wonder why I left Detroit for Las Vegas when I retired. Sheesh.

We know. You remind us about it at least 14 times per day.

[Former_Detroiter]

I just returned from 3 weeks in Detroit. Just before I left Santa Fe for Detroit I told a coworker that the one thing I am not looking forward to are the Michigan potholes. He gave me a very puzzled and asked "is that some new kinda weed I don't know about?" When I attempted to tell him about potholes he asked "how did they get there?" I told him to do a Google image search...

[Danny]

Don't worry Gov. Whitmer will fix the d--- roads.

[Jimaz]

... I told him to do a Google image search...

Which is where I found

Manchester man draws penises around potholes so the city will fix them

Public spirited graffiti. What a concept.

[Meddle]

Why y'all diggin' holes in the streets fer yer pots?

[Atticus]

At least we the taxpayers in Michigan spend less per capita on roads than every state BUT Missouri and Alaska. State number 48 out of 50 isn’t bad, right? Just think of all those would-be tax dollars you are saving by living in Michigan, every time you hit a pothole.

[canuck]

Why y'all diggin' holes in the streets fer yer pots?

Ass what I’ve been thinking, and I came up with this bit of wizdumb;

Potholes are for potheads.

[Richard]

Nobody likes potholes,not for nothing but the hundreds of millions the state received in infrastructure monies to fix the potholes,was vetoed by your local representative,luckily it was passed without her veto,but she did say she was speaking for her base as a representative ,ergo you guys must really love your potholes enough to protect them from becoming extinct.

Not sure why they would have to spend taxpayer dollars to fund a rat out a pothole program,lots of city and state officials driving the same roads every day,unless they have special vehicles that float over them,they already know where they are.

Watched a video sometime back about a pothole fixing machine,it only took one driver,he would drive over the top of the pothole,little lasers would detect the size and depth and fixed it in minutes with the materials that were stored in the truck.

With the advanced technology they could probably do it driverless,where it just systematically drives the streets 24/7 fixing potholes.

[Jimaz]

Whitmer signs executive directive to speed up pothole repairs

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has signed an executive directive to speed up pothole repairs in Michigan.

According to a release by the governor's office on Wednesday, Executive Directive 2022-2{PDF} directs the Michigan Department of Transportation {MDOT} to speed up pothole repairs on state trunkline highways, using "all available resources" — including overtime for roads workers....

The Executive Directive directs MDOT to do the following:

• Use all available resources to expedite repair of road surfaces, including overtime pay and contracted services where appropriate.
• Assess conditions on state trunkline highways to identify and prioritize areas for repair.
• Ensure that the public can easily communicate the location of potholes or other issues with road surfaces on state trunkline highways and assess and respond to these reports.
• Ensure timely disbursements of Michigan Transportation Fund dollars to local road agencies to ensure that local authorities have the resources they need to repair potholes and other road surface deterioration. {Funding to fix local, non-state roads are appropriated by the Michigan Legislature}.
• Continue broader road improvement projects, including those that are part of the Rebuilding Michigan Plan, to prevent potholes and other road surface issues from developing in the first place.

[softailrider]

^^Wonder who's running for reelection this year?

[Zacha341]

Some potholes are so venerable they've been added to some mobile GPS systems. Not perfect -- but when I used the Waze app for example their system called out 'pothole' ahead. Sometimes very close - sometimes not there.

Using your eyes [as can during daylight] remains the best detector I'd say.

[sirrealone]

Once a road starts getting potholes, it's basically shot. It will continue to form new potholes until it's replaced.

The most cost effective way to address the pothole issue is by prevention. This would mean repairing roads before anything is wrong with them. This is a foreign concept here in Michigan. We only work on roads once they've started failing.

In an ideal situation, when a road is built, it's fresh and new. Crack sealing should be done initially and every couple of years. Within the first 5-10 years, a layer of asphalt should be applied, and crack sealing done on that. Every 3-5 years thereafter a new layer of asphalt should be applied. By putting these layers on before the road starts failing, it preserves the condition of the road, and could double or triple the life of the road.

Could you imagine the outcry if we started doing this? Blacktopping over a perfectly good road? The horror, the waste! Well, that's the way other states that have good roads do it. Doing it the way we do it now, blacktopping over road that has already started failing, does not 'fix' the road, it just covers up a road that's already begun failing and just slows down the breakdown for a very little while, and it leads to the perpetual cycle of having to replace roads that would last 2-3 times as long if they'd been properly maintained.

Unfortunately, the disinvestment in the roads for the last several decades means that we've got years to go before we can start prioritizing preservation. Hopefully, we actually do it this time, unlike in the 1990's, when we actually got the roads looking pretty good and then did nothing to preserve them, leading to where we are today.

[Jimaz]

Hmm. I suppose if we ever kick our fossil fuel addiction, we'll have to substitute concrete for asphalt.

[Gistok]

I noticed that I-94 has been blacktopped for at least 20 years... reapplied every 5 years or so. I remember back about 15 years ago [[or so) when I-275 was rebuilt and all the folks in Livonia were complaining about the noise they had after the relaying of just concrete.

Blacktop eliminates some of the freeway noise [[as do walls around the freeway)... it is interesting to read that it extends the life of freeways, and is less disruptive on maintenance closures compared to just laying new cement. I remember the big closures of I-696 just a few years ago due to just do new cement.

[Gistok]

Hmm. I suppose if we ever kick our fossil fuel addiction, we'll have to substitute concrete for asphalt.

I'm curious that since asphalt is not "exhausted" into the atmosphere like gasoline, does it cause as much damage in creating greenhouse gases?