Editor,
Your recent editorial entitled Pothole Frustrations needs clarification. Yes, potholes can damage vehicles. Meaford may well have 400 kilometres of roads to maintain and “most of our roads provide a smooth ride for motorists”. However, crumbling asphalt is only part of the problem.
The “handful of roads” in poor condition such as Aiken Street and Trowbridge Street East are traffic corridors that are more heavily used and poorly paved. Many of the manhole or more politically correct maintenance hole covers that serve the sewers were not paved flush to the road surface. Drive these streets and note the teeth-jarring impacts when tire contact is made with covers that are either elevated above, or sunk below, the road surface. Note also the snakelike descent of vehicles on the St. Vincent and Sykes Street hills. Drivers swerve quickly from left to right to avoid the poorly paved covers.
Poor paving also adds to taxpayer expense. Sunken covers collect detritus that holds moisture and accelerates rust corrosion of steel and cast iron covers. Elevated covers can sustain rim damage when struck by vehicles towing large trailers as on Aiken Street. Because the covers are circular, the force of the impact is concentrated on a small section of rim emplacement. Bridge Street is also more susceptible to damage by large trucks transporting tons of excavated SkyDev soil.
Your newspaper prefers happy-clappy letters. The good news is that ratepayers who reside on damaged streets have less exposure to the noise boys. Bumpy streets are a blessing in disguise because a small number of Meaford vehicles have modified mufflers or were purchased with the so-called redneck option. When encountering a smooth road surface, the temptation is to put the hammer down in order to test the decibels produced by the engine. Many Ontario municipalities are concerned with public safety and control both speeding and noise pollution by using speed bumps on their more heavily travelled streets. Meaford seems to prefer potholes and poor paving.
Happy motoring,
Jim Molineux, Meaford
