I’ve ben on pothole patrol recently.
When a long, narrow one opened up on the Tollway between Randall Road and the toll booth, I emailed newly-sworn in State Senator Karen McConnaughay.
The next day it had been filled.
She told me she had a hard time finding someone at the tollway who would take a pothole complaint.
That reminded her of the displeasure she would express to her staff while she was Kane County Board Chairman when a simple complaint made it to her phone.
I saw potholes on Route 62 going up the hill from Route 62 and emailed State Senator Dan Duffy and State Rep. David McSweeney. I haven’t been back on that road since my communication, but I hope one of them had someone call IDOT to send a crew out before they widened enough to swallow a tire.
On Route 176 I saw a pothole going east over the railroad tracks to McHenry that could have swallowed a kid’s wagon. I emailed State Rep. Barb Wheeler and discovered it filled the next day.
Russel Court is the name of the dead end street that traffic coming from the south on Route 47 take to get a parking space at the McHenry County Courthouse.
As I was driving there this morning, a Sheriff’s Deputy’s car came way over the center line into my lane.
Here are a couple of challenges of getting one’s car out of the Courthouse parking lot.
I soon saw why.
You can see some of the potholes at the entrance to the Courthouse parking lot here.
I was lucky enough to catch this pickup truck as its front tire was leaving a relative deep pothole near the entrance to the Courthouse.
You can see this pickup truck did not miss one of the potholes.
The City of Woodstock has left large potholes go unfilled.
The ice in these potholes show why they get larger and larger as the freeze and thaw cycle occurs.
A pothole filled earlier.
It is not as if Woodstock Public Works folks don’t fill potholes on Russel Court, named after Bill Russel who was County Board Chairman when the Courthouse was sited.
How big are the potholes now?
Take a look at the one below behind which can been seen a drainage grate.
This pothole is east of the Courthouse entrance, so gets almost no traffic. Note its size in comparison to the storm sewer grate.
With the Courthouse being one of the main reasons that people from the rest of McHenry County visit Woodstock, wouldn’t you think the City fathers would take better care of this street than they do?
Then, again, the tax dollars have already been spent building the County Government Administrative Complex. It’s not as if there’s any chance the buildings will be re-located.
On Feb. 28 I emailed Woodstock Public Works about the pothole repairs needed on Russel Ct.
On Mar. 1, Public Works replied, “We will make note of this and review the area when the weather is more appropriate for making repairs.”