The Bona Venture

Issue date: 3/19/10 Section: News

Large pot holes form in the parking lot near Francis and Townhouse 33.
Image courtesy of Mary Jane Stevens

As the snow melts away, the sun begins to shine again and temperatures rise into the flip-flop-meriting 50s, the number of potholes visible on campus increase too.

Residents of Francis Hall and Townhouse 33 have dealt with the side effects of that phenomenon this week.

The driveway leading to the parking lot directly behind Francis Hall and across from Townhouse 33 has been riddled with pot holes most of the year, but March 5, a crater-like formation settled in the road.

"It is a severe case of the usual pothole phenomenon," Phil Winger, associate vice president for facilities, wrote in an e-mail. "Water gets under the road, and the asphalt cannot bear the weight of cars, and/or the water freezes, expands and breaks the asphalt."

Winger said this road is not scheduled to be repaved during this summer's massive road overhaul, so it needed as close to a permanent fix as possible.

"We plan a more or less permanent fix of the most affected area," he wrote.

The university attempted to fix the damage March 5, but rain impeded that progress. In the meantime, the grassy area on one side of the hole transformed into a sloppy, muddy, quicksand-like mess, and the other side of the larger hole had more potholes in it.

Eddie Perry, a graduate student who lives in Francis Hall, said, "You had two choices: you could go to the left and go into a huge mud pit or go to the right where there were some more potholes and asphalt."

He saw one student driving a lower-riding car nearly get stuck in that mud. When he drove over it in his SUV, he said, he felt his tires start to spin.

After that incident, he parked in the lot behind Phase I Townhouses while the road was being repaired.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the barricades, construction vehicles and cones that inhabited the area were gone, and, with the exception of darker gray asphalt, the pothole was invisible.

However, potholes still exist in the lot, and that left Perry confused.

"I came back from lunch (Tuesday), and it was definitely better than what it was before, but there are some other big pot holes that should be fixed," he said.

"When I first saw them, I thought maybe they're finally fixing most of the potholes in this parking lot. I just didn't think it was going to be one section."

e-mail: stevenmj@sbu.edu

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