Bump, thud, clank and rattle.
For drivers entering and exiting University parking lots and garages, these are sounds that have become all too familiar, with potholes strewn across the pavement of the lots.
Lisabeth Matyash, a commuter who parks in the Douglass parking deck, pointed out the many divots in the garage’s surface, including a big one right at the entrance of the garage.
“It doesn’t matter how much you swerve out of the way, because you always hit it,” said Matyash, School of Arts and Sciences first-year student.
Many students said the Douglass parking deck isn’t the only garage with the issue.
Katrina Lundgren, a School of Arts and Sciences junior who parks on Livingston campus, said there is uneven pavement all around the parking lots on campus.
“I park in the Yellow Lot, and it is all just one big pothole,” Lundgren said.
All these potholes could add up to big problems for drivers, said David Weinstein, the AAA Mid-Atlantic manager of public affairs and government, in an e-mail correspondence.
“Depending on the size of the pothole and the speed of the car, damage can be anywhere from quite serious and expensive to non-existent and only jarring and surprising to the driver who drove through one,” Weinstein said.
On the quite serious and expensive side of pothole damage are blown tires and damaged rims, undercarriage damage, and steering and suspension problems, Weinstein said.
To prevent such damage, the University is taking action, said Director of Transportation Services Jack Molenaar.
A consultant was hired to assess the status and quality of every lot to help develop a 10-year capital plan to improve and potentially repave many of the parking areas at the University, he said.
The capital plan would determine which lots should receive repairs first.
Following the assessment, the Department of Parking and Transportation Services can start planning out which lots they should work on each year based on which have the most need and how much money should be put aside each year to complete the repairs, Molenaar said.
The final report should be done within a month, and repaving on some lots could begin as early as next summer, he said.
The department works with University Maintenance to keep parking lots clean, and when necessary they repair potholes, Molenaar said.
“We try to keep [the parking lots] in good working order,” he said.
Molenaar said if the department knows a parking lot is going to be affected by construction, they would not spend the money to make major repairs on it.
An example is the often-criticized Lot 66 on Busch campus, he said. Though the lot may need repaving, Molenaar said a housing unit is going to be built on the lot soon, so it would not make sense to pay money for repairs if the lot is not going to be there a few years from now.
“They are already in the planning stages [for constructing this unit]. … and so there is no reason for us to spend money on it because that would be a big waste of money,” Molenaar said. “We are constantly looking at things like that to make sure that we are not spending money on things that are just going to get ripped out.”
Though Matyash and Lundgren agree the University should work harder to repair potholes, they also acknowledge that filling them is easier said then done.
Matyash said repairing the potholes would require students to park in other lots or higher in the garage, potentially causing parking problems on campus because many of the lots are already filled to capacity.
Lundgren said the University has more pressing priorities than potholes.
“I don’t know if that’s the number one concern right now,” she said. “They have more important things to worry about. New Jersey is just filled with potholes.”
Until they are repaired, Weinstein said students should abide by the number one pothole-avoiding behavior when driving: pay attention.
“If you’re paying attention and driving reasonably fast, you have a good chance of avoiding the pothole, particularly if it’s a route you drive often,” Weinstein said.
He said other drivers have learned how to avoid potholes, and this can be easily done if drivers are more aware of the roads.
“You can see other drivers avoid it and you can, too, if you’re paying attention,” Weinstein said. “But if you’re yapping away or have your eyes off the road, chances are you’ll drive straight into it.”
Molenaar encourages drivers who find potholes in parking lots and garages to let Transportation Services know by visiting its Web site, www.parktran.rutgers.edu. Under the “Contact us” section, click on the “Parking Lot Signs, Meters, or Maintenance Problems” link to report the issue.
“I don’t like seeing big potholes, either,” Molenaar said.
U. to fix potholes after student drivers complain
Published: Thursday, November 12, 2009
Updated: Thursday, November 12, 2009
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