A pothole on Howder Street. Ally Hall | Collegian
Hillsdale should imitate the Roman Empire’s high quality roads, according to Samuel Sadler, a first semester graduate student.
“If you go back to what made the Roman Empire so great, part of it was the fact that they had this great system of roads,” he added, “Having a well done system of roads is the mark of a great empire or a great city.”
But Hillsdale has a bumpy road ahead, students say.
“The potholes in Hillsdale are almost worse than any other city I have been in,” senior Kaeleigh Otting said. “I also seldom see work done on the roads here, which most definitely contributed to the issue.”
Many students living off campus are keenly aware of this plight, especially those living on or near Summit or Howder streets, which are riddled with road scarring.
Otting, who grew up on the west side of the state, estimated the number of run-ins with potholes during her eight years of driving on Michigan roads.
“The number of potholes I have hit cannot be tracked on one hand. Alone in my time in Hillsdale easily, I have hit well over 100,” Otting said. “In my lifetime of driving even more, a thousand even. Most roads have at least one unavoidable one.”
Jason Blake, director of public services for the city of Hillsdale, said during his tenure with the city, the roads have received far more support.
“Over the last seven years, we’ve done more road work than we’ve done in the previous 20, so a lot of these roads are getting better — they’re just so far gone, it’s going to be a long time until we can get them back,” he said.
Despite an increase in road repairs, Blake acknowledged there have been more complaints regarding potholes and estimated that 40% of Hillsdale’s roads rank in the “poor” category, although there have been many improvements.
He also said the city’s responsibility regarding roads extends roughly 48 miles of roads ranging from highways and local streets.
“We are responsible for the trunk line, which is the highway M-99 and all the major local streets through the city,” Blake said. “In addition to that, we also maintain all the several municipal parking lots, several parks, and then the cemeteries all together.”
The Michigan Department of Transportation offers some tips to minimize damage from these common road obstacles.
“If you spot a pothole ahead and cannot safely steer to avoid it, it is best to slow down, straighten your wheel to hit it squarely, release the brakes, and roll through,” MDOT said in a statement. “This helps to reduce the speed at impact and give your suspension the full range of travel to absorb the impact.”
Sadler said he has limited experience with Michigan roads.
“Michigan hasn’t been that bad, although to be fair, I have only really driven around Hillsdale and then between here and Detroit.”
He expressed how a recent encounter during his daily route to the gym from Northwest Street has changed his stance from driving normally over ice and snow-covered potholes.
“When the ice melted, I kept seeing people drive around it, and I thought ‘It can’t be that bad’ and so I took it a little too fast,” he added. “It was a strong jolt. I am definitely swerving around that [next time] but to swerve around it you basically have to go into the other lane.”
Potholes pose particular challenges during the winter time, because when road grade quality asphalt production plants are closed, according to Blake, the city relies on a different road patch mixture called a “cold patch.”
“It’s just really oil with stone in it,” Blake said. “It really is just a temporary patch, because asphalt is not available during the winter months.”
Asphalt is also preferred because of the price difference, and the city already annually spends $72,000 on road repair.
“The [asphalt] material is about $65 a ton,” Blake said. “Cold patch in the winter months is a way more expensive product, because the oil runs about $130 a ton.”
The key to a better fix, according to Blake, depends on the size of the pothole.
The size of the pothole depth matters, according to Blake, as he emphasized a shallow hole is like a jar and the patch material can just “push itself out” of the hole.
“You have to have a clean hole where it’s been broomed out or blown out, pick up the rubble, make sure the water is out of the hole,” Blake said. “And then when you put the material in, regardless, if it’s true asphalt or cold patch, tamping or compacting is key to keep a pothole structurally sound.”
Unlike the ideal road life, which lasts between 20 and 30 years, according to Blake, there is no guarantee that a pothole patch will last more than a winter.
“There’s no guarantee [it will last] because the patch is only going to be as good as what’s around it,” he said. “So even if you fill a hole in and it’s all cracked up around it, it’s just gonna last until that next spot cracks and turns into a bigger hole, and turns into a bigger hole.”
Once potholes begin to exceed 2 feet in diameter, and approach 4 or 6 feet, the city will complete a “cut square” and replace the entire section of damaged road.
During Blake’s three years serving in his role as director of public services — before he served eight years as a foreman — he shared why he keeps working on this “beautiful town.”
“There’s not a corner in this town that I haven’t helped make better either by beautification, infrastructure, the parks and so forth,” he said. “If we do our job right, we never get thanks, and that’s truly what it means to work for the Department of Public Services department, because if we do our job right, no one really knows.”
Blake encouraged community members to reach out to contact DPS at (517)-437-6490, if they are experiencing road issues.
