39 Comments
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Shayne Olsen's avatar

How many odot workers does it take to fix a pothole? Obviously not 6 or 7 anymore 😉

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Dave Mc Lean's avatar

Answer: no one knows, they've never fixed a pothole.

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Concerned Oregonian's avatar

Apparently they have so many in Multnomah County at any rate that it takes them upwards of 3 weeks to fill.

This last winter, I don't recall seeing the roads in such bad shape in my area. Each year, it's the same hole in the same place.

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Peggy's avatar

PBOT is the worst. They have a lot of events. Most of the emails are about events they put on. One email in over a year about filling potholes. They must have filled them with biodegradable material, because the fill was all gone in less than 6 months. And when they patch with asphalt, they can't fill the hole. They either overfill it and now the pothole is a three inch curb or they don't fill it completely.

Whoever is in charge of PBOT is an incompetent boob with obviously no experience or interest in maintenance.

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James Lyon's avatar

one of the problems with "potholes" is that they are usually a symptom of a bigger underlying weakness in the road base below. patching the pothole is like putting a bandaid on skin cancer. it is just a temporary stopgap until the effort is made to repair the deeper problem. I'm not sure why they are just doing the quicker cosmetic thing rather than repairing the main cause, but until they do, the potholes will just keep coming back, wasting time and money.

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Peggy's avatar

They are not even patching potholes at PBOT.

But the ones I've seen seem to be related to Trimet bus tire chains, in my opinion. In that they are on little hills, by bus stops and at intersections. All where those heavy buss tire chains dig into the pavement for traction.

I'm not an expert. But that is what it looks like to me.

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James Lyon's avatar

different problem, similar result. chains and tire studs reduce pavement strength and increase permeability from the top down.

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Peggy's avatar

Interesting. You sound like you know what you are talking about.

I think you should be running PBOT.

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Sally Schott's avatar

Hip hip hooray, Petulanza Palooza Party, corks popping. 🥳 🍾 🥂

Thanks for the steadfast diligence, Jeff.

And for mentioning Melissa Unger. Somehow the regular news sources always seem to forget her (😮‍💨🙄🤫). Probably the most powerful person in the state. She's helped win a lot of what the majority party has got us to today. I've previously requested of those same sources that they cover her regularly. For some strange reason, they never do. 🤔

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Jeff Eager's avatar

Stand by, Sally.

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J. Butler's avatar

Well done. Oregon Roundup had a key role in this, as the opposition news outlet. Also good to see Republicans finally (finally!) finding their feet.

To Republicans: How does success feel? Want more? Work harder and smarter.

Just curious: What's the state of Oregon's bond rating?

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Jeff Eager's avatar

Thanks, J.!

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Jan Kitchel's avatar

The state (and Portland, and Multco) have plenty of money. Just spend it wisely. Don't spend it on stupid stuff. You know how I know this? We have the highest marginal tax rate for state and local in the country. Other places get by on less dough.

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James Lyon's avatar

I'm rejoicing, in a somewhat guarded way. we still have a supermajority of legislators beholden to the almighty union dollar, and a moribund bureaucracy that has very little impetus to actually solve the incompetent mess they have created. BUT, as some novelist once wrote, "tomorrow is another day."

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Paulette Revere's avatar

A sharp rebuke to those who have NO WISH to keep our beautiful state "somewhat solvent". A massive unsatisfied union gets a smack in the face of reality: Oregonians are T.E.A.! TAXED ENOUGH ALREADY! When is enough ever "enough"?

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Deborah Tilden's avatar

What is so sad about Oregon Democrats and their political games and bloated budgets is that they are spending millions, if not billions, to prop up their debased policies of abortion and transgender surgeries on children on the backs of hard working taxpayers. The UK banned these surgeries on minors, the worldwide science has proven this is NOT a win-win for ANYONE! The long term health risks and complications of both abortion and transgender mutilation surgeries, and contradictory hormones, ie, XX vs XY DNA incompatibility is being forced on us all without any kind of medical accountability. What ever happened to DO NO HARM in medicine?

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Brett Hyland's avatar

Hallelujah! There IS a God in heaven, aware and, somehow, shining miraculously upon the Oregon shire and her people, long though we have been ignored by the party to which we have had our pledge tied.

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Jeff Eager's avatar

That’s really great, Brett.

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Kendall's avatar

Look for the "not petulant" Tina to lay off the entire maintenace section of ODOT, the only group that actually does something, and leave the planners engineers, architects and pretty bureaucrats that take up space alone. Or maybe they can figure out how to maintain the roads at only 4X the cost per mile of Colorado

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Sally Schott's avatar

Ouch,

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Rick Roseta's avatar

Truly, what do the 600-700 ODOT employees do on a daily basis?

Oh, I remember, they work on finding the $1.1Billion...

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Richard Cheverton's avatar

Jeff neglected to add: pirate media (himself included) chewed up the bill and spat it out, with a continuing crusade on Instagram, X, and other social media platforms. The machine, being dumb to this stuff, was blindsided and never got out in front of the mobilization of emails from citizens. OregonCitizen's monicker, "Titanic Tax Bill" sank the ship.

Give yourself a pat on the back, Jeff.

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Louis Forrest Tomlinson's avatar

God Bless the petulant children!

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TheXdDx12's avatar

Democrats managed to get environmentalists, social justice, local mayors and county commissioners all on the opposite side of them, along with the usual anti-tax reactions and Republicans. Kotek and her co-Governor Unger were on an island against the entire state!

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Dwell in the Land's avatar

👏👏👏

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Concerned Oregonian's avatar

Excellent news!

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A. Hairyhanded Gent's avatar

It's a sign of the times in which we live that the best, finest thing the servants of the people have done is to *not* tax us more.

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