Potholes testing tires and nerves Poor roads frustrating Maine motorists who have to shell out cash to fix damage

HERMON – Unusually mild temperatures have wreaked havoc on Maine’s roadways, creating every motorist’s nemesis: the pothole.

Commonly referred to as the “January thaw,” recent conditions have warmed the ground beneath previously frozen roads, causing the pavement to heave and crack, sometimes opening up craterlike holes.

Dave Matson, who works at Stratham Tire Inc. in Bangor, said several frustrated customers have visited the shop within the past few days, all victims of the dreaded pothole.

The cost for repairing pothole damage has varied for each customer. One motorist who only had a blown tire was able to escape with a mere $15 patching fee, Matson said. A far less lucky traveler struck a pothole that bent the entire wheel of a new car, he said. That bill, all totaled, will near $800.

“Nobody likes to come see us,” Matson said. “It can ruin a day real quick.”

Maine Department of Transportation officials said Thursday that usually this time of year there is about a three-day stretch of abnormally warm weather that results in potholes.

The seasonal freezing and thawing lead to the deterioration of state roadways, said Cliff Curtis, an engineer in the bureau of maintenance and operations for Maine DOT.

Many local roads are not built to contemporary standards, which means that “maintenance has become regretfully reactive, instead of proactive and planned,” said Terry Hannan, an engineer for DOT’s Eastern Region.

“If you read the papers, you know the funding woes are everywhere, not just with the DOT,” Hannan said. “What that generally means is, like around the house, you build less, you improve less, and you maintain more.”

Just the potholes along Route 2 in Hermon sent at least four customers to Stratham Tire since the beginning of the week, Matson said.

Residents of Hermon are tired of the poor road conditions in town, and the Town Council has made fixing the streets one of its top goals, said Town Manager Clint Deschene. The town office fielded six calls on Thursday from residents complaining about road conditions, particularly on Route 2, Billings Road, Annis Road and Wing Road, he said. All four of these are state-maintained roads.

The Town Council has held meetings with DOT officials for years to get those roads rebuilt, and now the group is considering fixing some with local funds, Deschene said. Before taking that step, local officials have scheduled a meeting with the DOT’s Hannan on Jan. 17.

Route 2 is maintained through state and federal funds because it is a major collector road, while the other three fall under the Rural Road Initiative, where one-third of construction costs fall to the town and the state pays two-thirds, Hannan said. If Hermon submitted a formal proposal to Maine DOT to take over the care of the roadways the state would consider it, he said. But the state is experiencing its own problems as it struggles with a $95 million budget shortfall.

Although no other towns have pursued repairing state roads at their own cost, “it’s understandable,” Curtis said. “Everybody would like to have a smooth road out in front of their house.”

The town’s tax base in some ways could be aggravating the problem, Hannan said. Hermon is home to several transportation and construction companies, whose heavier trucks tend to hasten the wear and tear on the roads.

Additionally, tractor-trailers coming from the south use Route 2 to reach the Bangor area, since weight restrictions force them off Interstate 95, Deschene said. Trucks, fully loaded with trash, bound for the Pine Tree Landfill in Hampden also use Route 2, affecting all the towns’ roads along the way, Deschene said.

“It’s frustrating to towns that have a good tax base like Hermon does,” Hannan said. “Hermon could well afford to match us on [cost-shared construction projects], but it’s a problem of [state] funding.”