On March 1st, the Georgia DOT (GDOT) announced $20,000,000 worth of various road and bridge projects let statewide.
Interestingly enough, there are no Metro Atlanta projects on the master list (please click here for the list).
Recently, Atlanta’s CBS 46 “Pothole Patrol” pointed out the sad situation of potholes on the stretch of Ponce de Leon Avenue (US 29/78/278/GA 8/10) in East Atlanta. Please click here to watch the video entitled “Ponce de Pothole”.
While I’m cool with GDOT spreading money across the state to help fix existing transportation infrastructure (including replacing antiquated bridges with sturdy new structures), I have to wonder why they have allowed Ponce de Leon Avenue (a.k.a. “Ponce”) to become a plethora of potholes over the past several years.
Given that Ponce is not just a city street, but a state highway… and a very well-traveled one at that… shouldn’t said thoroughfare be given a little more priority than it has been? Don’t get me wrong; all Georgia highways should be maintained as well as possible, but it seems to me that GDOT is giving Ponce the “short shrift” by doing no more than putting proverbial “Band-Aids” on it (e.g. pothole filling). Granted that our tax dollars may not be quite as plentiful, but IMHO some roads should get a little higher priority if they have become hazardous to drivers. Any road with a plethora of potholes should be fixed, and that, dear reader, would be an extremely wise use of our tax dollars!!!
My hope is that “Ponce” will one day no longer be called “Ponce de Pothole” and that drivers would not have to treat it as an obstacle course. As much as folks aren’t exactly “warm and fuzzy” about taxes, auto repairs (e.g. realignments) tend to suck the bucks out of our bank accounts as well.
Have you driven on Ponce lately? Do you use Ponce as
part of your daily commute to and from your job? What are your thoughts?
Please feel free to share them either in the comments section of this
blog or via our Facebook page.
And finally, thanks to fellow Atlanta-area roadgeek Bryant Anderson at “Southern Roadgeek” for bringing this to my attention. Bryant also has his own blog, Twitter, and videos, as well as his own Facebook page, all of which are extremely worth reading, subscribing to, and “liking”.
That’s it for now. Thanks for reading, have a great weekend, and please visit often.