On January 9th the City of Lakewood posted an update on the Gravelly Lake Dr. construction.
On January 10th I commented on how other roads have been negatively effected.
Well today, Monday January 17th 2022 I would like to start a timer to see how long it takes the City to fill the potholes along 112th St. Travelling east from Gravelly Lake to Bridge Port I counted no less than 30 major potholes, which greatly effect anyone’s drive on that mile of Lakewood roadway.
If the City says the Gravelly Lake construction is on schedule, as they did in a response to my comment, then they expected the higher volumes of cars for this length of time on 112th. If that is the case, I fully expect the City to maintain the alternate route to the best of the City’s capability and maintain the safest travel throughout the City.
I don’t know if anyone else remembers Tacoma’s “Pothole Pig” but maybe you can help me name the play “work crew” that I photographed attempting to fix the horrible road conditions. Do you have potholes you would like pointed out to the City? Maybe this could become something similar to the Pothole Pig.
Please remember in 1996 Lakewood became a city so that we as local voters would have more say in our community. I say fix the roads!
Jean Reddish says
Start with Nyanza Rd SW, please.
Thank you.
Jim Kopriva, City of Lakewood says
They hit Nyanza today. It should be much better.
Ray R says
I recently had a deep pothole that had been growing for 2 years. I submitted a 311 for it and it was repaired the following day. I wonder is people are reporting these or just waiting for the City to fix them on their own.
KM Hills says
Glad 311 worked for you but very sad that in 2 years no one from the City discovered the pothole. Not sure how many lane miles Lakewood has but in two years no one from the City drove through there, or was it ignored untill your 311 input? Hard to believe this is the “smaller, better service” post 20 years of incorporation that we get.
Jim Kopriva, City of Lakewood says
It depends on where they are. Our maintenance staff also works on parks, and the wintery “pothole season” has our staff scrambling to patch all reported holes.
https://cityoflakewood.us/mylakewood311/
I don’t find it unreasonable that your reports help us find problems. When you report a crime, the police come. When you report a nuisance, our code enforcement team comes. When you report a pothole, our maintenance staff comes.
Did you see us respond to that shady COVID-19 testing site? I heard about that at 8:00 p.m. the night before and our code enforcement had them out of commission by 10:00 a.m.
I think you’ll be pleased to find how responsive we are to issues you introduce us to.]
Brian says
When the snow and ice melted and the potholes sprouted like the first day of spring, I questioned asphalt mix. Do the roads in the Midwest, Canada, and other colder climates fall apart each year like this as well?
I did see a crew on Washington Blvd a couple of days ago, working their butts off to fill in the 2 dozen or so holes I saw from Holden to Gravelly.
I have always felt that the city of Lakewood is responsive and responsible (for the most part) in fixing things that matter. I do wonder in our climate encourages purchasing a less resilient mix of asphalt, or do our roads ‘acclimate’ to the weather just like people.
I do remember, this must have been 15-20 years ago, but we were in the middle of a heat wave. Mid 90s for weeks in July–so much that I heard people complaining and asking for rain while in the locker room of the YMCA. I had to laugh…the grass is truly always greener. Washingtonians complaining about too much sun…
Anyway, there was a part of I5 close to the Mounts Road exit going south that crumbled under the heat. I laughed when I read that in the old rag TNT. Good Lord, we’ve become so weather intolerant here that even our roads tap out when the temperature escapes the 40-80 degree window.
bsn
Kristy J Kernen says
The photo with the toy tractor was a perfect example! I do really hope ALL of the chunks and holes get fixed. We do have a problem with the “patching” of holes and them completely not holding.
Jim Kopriva, City of Lakewood says
See my comment below. We’re patching potholes as soon as new reports come in.
I’ve seen 67 pothole complaints in the last 30 days and we’ve completed all but 10 – and I believe most of the open tickets were on the roads that we hit on Monday, Tuesday, and today.
https://cityoflakewood.us/mylakewood311/
Tom Riggs says
I suspect that contractors and somebody in city government are too busy getting rich on the round abouts they keep pushing on us to worry about little things like potholes. Absolutely no reason for the proliferation of round abouts other than to make money for contractors and the people who authorize them.
Jim Kopriva, City of Lakewood says
Washington, Nyanza, 112th, and Interlaaken were all badly damaged in the wake of the weather and needed more advanced repair than a standard cold mix.
We repaired Washington on Friday, 112th and Interlaaken on Monday, and Nyanza this morning. I believe we would have fixed 112th within hours of setting your timer.
As you can see, they did a pretty nice job on Washington when I drove the route on Friday: https://twitter.com/CityofLakewood/status/1482129398153158659
Additionally, Washington will be completely rebuilt in 2022-2023 as we advance the JBLM North Access Project.
PLEASE report potholes to MyLakewood311. We’ll be right out there to fix them. The standard response time is just 2-4 days. https://cityoflakewood.us/mylakewood311/
Report via your browser if your app isn’t working right. The app developer just issued an update for iPhones and one is coming soon for Android. Let me know if you’re having issues.
All of our maintenance staff have been pulled away from their normal duties to fix potholes. They are bound to form when it rains, snows, freezes, and melts. When they form, we’ll fix them – just tell us where!
JORDAN HARRIS says
Thank you Jim Kopriva and your crews for all of your hard work fixing potholes. Those people complaining now must have forgotten the ridiculous response time we got when we were an insignificant part of Tacoma. Also, if we want potholes repaired we need to inform MyLakewood311 of the problem. We cannot expect them to drive around looking for potholes. New ones are occurring daily.
KM Hills says
I sure wish pictures could be shared in comments, as I took pictures after 9pm on Wed evening of the toy “work crew” out late trying to fix the potholes on 112th between Gravelly Lake DR (east bound) towards Bridge Port. Above a City staffer responded to the timer comment and all I have to say tick, tick, tick the timer continues.