Route 10 pothole causing flats, stealing hubcaps
RANDOLPH – It's pothole season.
One of the early favorites for worst pothole of the year is on Route 10 east in Randolph, across from the Ford dealership and just before Eleventh Hour Animal Rescue.
The pothole in the far right lane has already claimed dozens of victims, and volunteers at Eleventh Hour are collecting the fallen hubcaps and displaying them on the side of the road as a warning to passing motorists.
The pothole developed over the past week, and has gotten progressively worse, they said.
"Some stop to avoid it, some can't, and others don't even know it's coming," volunteer Tara Merritt said. "But even if you know it's coming you can't always avoid it."
Merritt reported the pothole to Randolph Police Monday morning.
Municipal, county, and state offices are tasked with repairing area potholes depending on the roadway.
Randolph Detective Lt. Christopher Giuliani said the pothole was reported to police Monday morning, and dispatch contacted the state.
Since Route 10 is a state road, the New Jersey Department of Transportation is responsible for repairing the pothole.
In the meantime, Merritt collects the fallen hubcaps and pieces of car bumpers that are casualties of the Randolph pothole and places them in a makeshift memorial or lost and found.
They sit off to the side of Route 10 east underneath a sign that reads "Pothole Hubcaps."
"It's at least some sort of warning," Merritt said. "There's not much else we can do but it creeps up on you and it's especially dangerous at night. And I don't blame anyone, I just don't want someone to get hurt."
Other volunteers confirm the carnage they've witnessed over the past week. They say one of every 20 cars that pass do so with a thump thump, some so loud they can feel them.
"People might come to us to adopt a dog," volunteer Antonette Nicholais said, "And then they end up having to also pay for a new alignment or a tire."
Merritt said cars have regularly pulled over on the shoulder or parked at the nearby CVS to fix tires gone flat because of the pothole during the past week.
At 1 p.m. Monday, a car was pulled over with a flat, and another was in the CVS parking lot installing a spare tire.
"I've never seen a pothole that big," said Victoria Rispoli, 18, of Sparta. "It's crazy people are allowed to drive there. They should at least put up cones."
Rispoli, a student at nearby County College of Morris, had to walk the rest of the way to make it to class on time after her Chevy Cobalt suffered a flat tire because of the pothole.
"It's horrible everywhere right now," said Dave DeGraw, 18, of Sparta, who was helping Rispoli change her tire.
At 4:30 p.m. Monday, Giuliani said DOT informed Randolph Police the hole was being repaired.
On average, the state Department of Transportation fills 180,000 potholes per year. But between July 1, 2014, and last Friday, 125,000 potholes had been repaired, with the busiest season just beginning. The state is expecting to repair 300,000 potholes this year, nearly double the average.
Last week's snowstorm may have contributed to what was already a rough year for potholes on New Jersey's roadways.
"All the moisture from the roadways seeps into these cracks that are in the road," said Tracy Noble, a spokeswoman for AAA Midlantic. "They have the freeze and the thaw and the freeze and the thaw and it makes the potholes on the roadways even bigger. Motorists need to be careful."
State DOT Commissioner Jamie Fox announced a statewide pothole repair campaign Monday, saying this winter produced "extraordinarily high numbers of potholes," resulting in hazardous roadways.
"This has been a brutal winter that has taken a heavy toll on our roads," Fox said, "But I want to assure New Jersey residents that we will spend whatever is necessary to make repairs as quickly as possible."
Fox said repair crews will close travel lanes when necessary, including peak travel times, to make priority repairs. Daytime work will be limited to 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and avoid working in the peak directions where possible, he added.
To repair the pothole, NJDOT uses cold patch material, common for winter pothole work. Crews also use 13 pothole filling machines for a more durable repair. The machines heat a mix of asphalt and gravel, which is injected into the pothole. The machines allow crews to provide a better repair, and save time and money.
To report a pothole on a state road: 800-POTHOLE (768-4653); www.state.nj.us/transportation/commuter/potholeform.shtm.
To file a pothole damage claim on a state road:
•Drivers with cars damaged on state roads are eligible to seek reimbursement by filing a pothole damage claim within 90 days of the accident. Call the Office of Risk Management from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at 609-292-4347.
•To report a pothole on a Morris County road, email PlanningPublicWorks@co.morris.nj.us or call the county garage in Hanover Township at 973-285-6763.
•Local roads can be reported to Town Hall.
Gannett New Jersey Contributed to this story. Staff Writer Michael Izzo: 973-428-6636; mizzo@dailyrecord.com
Do you know of a bad pothole? If so, the Daily Record Pothole Patrol wants to hear from you. We're looking for the biggest, baddest, roughest, toughest and meanest potholes.
Please send an email to reporter Bill Westhoven at wwesthoven@dailyrecord.com with a brief description of the seasonal road hazard that bumps your daily grind. Photos are welcome, too, but please be careful.
Make sure you include your name your name, telephone number and the precise location. We will compile them for future reports, with photos and video, and track the repairs until they are completed.