February 2011

In a city known more for grunge bands, coffee, rain and Nordstrom’s, there emerges a new phenomenon that has the citizenry buzzing. Yup, it’s potholes. All that rain – and this winter, a good dose of snow as well – has to go somewhere. Where there are cracks in the pavement, that includes in and under the asphalt, leading to a proliferation of potholes that required filling 91 percent more…

The election of Rahm Emanuel to the mayor’s office in Chicago without a runoff – he garnered 55 percent of the vote in the February election, enough to save voters and the city the hassle and expense of a runoff election – is regarded as a minor miracle in this most political of cities. And that’s a good thing, because the cash-strapped metropolis, like so many others, can use the…

There are two ways to attack the pothole problem. One is to fix the potholes. The other is to drive a car that is tougher than any chuckhole that comes its way. With current technology and resources, neither is 100% possible. Potholes are inevitable, even if there are smarter and better ways to build and maintain roads today. Come winter and spring, in almost every town in every climate, there…

The New York City Department of Transportation and motorists on Staten Island, New York experienced last fall what has become a common problem in an increasingly wired world: A utility cut was made to a recently repaved stretch of road. The cut was filled with temporary-patch asphalt, but it was deteriorating rapidly just weeks later – and drivers were not happy. This has happened countless times in recent years, as…