The eternal problem
Potholes in Gallup more than a bump in the road

Potholes await the tires of a truck on Mesa Avenue. — © 2009 Gallup Independent / Brian Leddy

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — Ever since the first roads were laid in Gallup more than 90 years ago, there have been potholes.

And there have been people like Pat Nolan, who have a love-hate relationship with every pothole in town.

As a driver, he knows the pain of hitting a pothole and getting that sickening feeling that something has gone terribly wrong with his car’s alignment. But as a manager at Midas Auto Service, he knows that a lot of the work that comes his way in the winter comes from the area’s potholes claiming another victory over a Gallup driver.

But if he had his druthers, Nolan sad he would rather see a world where those nasty potholes didn’t exist. “I don’t want disgruntled customers,” he said.

Unfortunately, the potholes are here to stay, given the city’s climate, said Stan Henderson, director of public works for the city and the guy who has the overall responsibility of seeing that the potholes are filled as soon as possible when they are reported to the city.

The city’s policy is to get them filled within 10 days, but usually city street crews are able to get to them within five days. The reason for the delay, he said, is that the street crew that is charged with filling the holes don’t go from hole to hole but do all of the holes in a section of the city at the same time.

On really bad potholes, the city does put up cones around it to serve as a warning to motorists until the city crews have time to make it to the area.

Surprisingly, said Pat Butler, who represents the southside of town, the number of complaints he hears from people about potholes isn’t as great this year as in past years.

“We get more complaints about snow remaining in front of the schools,” he said, with people wondering why the streets to the schools aren’t a top priority. He said that this may be something that the city needs to address to make sure that students are able to get to and from the school safely.

Another council member, Bill Nechero, said the pothole problem isn’t one that just affects his district, the north side. “It a problem all over,” he said.

Henderson agrees, adding, however, that the biggest problem seems to occur on those streets that have the most traffic, which makes sense. He also said drainage has a lot to do with it and pointed to one area that seems to always have problems, the patch of Aztec that’s located just east of the big hill near Burke Drive.

And while it seems that inattentive drivers have to take a lot of the blame for hitting a pothole that is staring them right in the face, city officials said there are times when you really can’t tell there is a pothole until you get right on it because it may be filled with water or snow.

Henderson said the city gets complaints on occasion from people reporting potholes on U.S. Highway 66 or places like Miyamura Overpass, both areas under the jurisdiction of the state highway department and not the city.

Both Nechero and Butler said they routinely report potholes they see in the city to Henderson’s office, and Henderson said the door is open to any citizen to do the same thing.

To report a pothole: Henderson, 863-1290, streets department, 726-2057.