MUSCATINE, Iowa — Driving the streets in Muscatine might feel more like driving on the moon this winter.

The streets are in the worst condition  Street Maintenance Supervisor Randy Howell can remember in his 26 years of working for the city.

“This winter hasn’t been kind to any road,” Howell said.

“Everywhere you look in town, you’ve got potholes.”

He wasn’t certain why the roads were so much worse this year, but thought the craters creating obstacles for drivers could be the effects of repeating freezes and thaws about every five to eight days between storms.

Howell said street crews responded to nine winter storms in 2006 and 2007, but have either plowed or salted the streets 21 times so far this season.

“I don’t have much time between storms,” he said.

Howell said street crews have been filling potholes with cold patch — a mixture of emulsified water, sand and rock — but “the cold patch is just a Band-Aid.”

He said the cold patches are a temporary fix until the hot-mix asphalt plants open in mid-May. Then streets crews will use a saw to cut rectangular holes in the pavement they will fill with the asphalt. Howell said it simply isn’t economical during the winter for the factories to heat the hot-mix asphalt to the 250 degrees Fahrenheit needed to blend the mixture.

With the scoop-shaped holes filled with cold patch, “tires hit it and it just pushes it back out.”

For the patches to hold, Howell said, “we need to have the weather nice, we need to have the potholes dry.”

During the warm-up in January, crews put 28 tons of the cold patch into potholes around the city. This Monday, Howell said a crew filled some large potholes at the intersections of Cedar and Third, Fourth and Sixth streets to minimize the impact of the potholes on vehicles.

Tammy Dietz, manager at A-1 Quality Tire & Car Service Inc. in Muscatine, said she began seeing more vehicles with damage associated to potholes after the snow and ice storm on Wednesday, Feb. 6.

The business now sees several vehicles each day with tipped or gouged rims, steering problems, flat or bubbled tires, or tires detached from the rims.

“When you hit a pothole, it does a lot of damage to your car,” Dietz said. “Even if you’re going the speed limit, you’d be surprised.”

Lt. Bret Talkington of the Muscatine Police Department was unaware of any vehicle accidents caused by potholes or people trying to swerve around them, but said he’s seen the hubcaps they’ve claimed laying around town.

Councilman Bob Bynum, 4th Ward, said some of those hubcaps have littered his lawn at times. He asked the street department to place barricades around the large potholes in front of his house on Hershey Avenue.

“It’s a safety hazard,” Bynum said. “People would hit one of those potholes, and with the size as well as the depth of the potholes, it would sound as if the tires were going to fall off.”

Bynum said he has heard complaints from residents about the potholes, but not any more than in other years.

Muscatine resident Jan Plowman said she’s noticed “quite a few” potholes in her travels around town.

“You have to slow down, especially if someone’s coming in the other direction,” she said.

But Plowman said she understands the situation facing street crews. “There’s nothing they can do about it now,” she said.

“This time of year it’s hard,” said Mick Hagerman, another Muscatine resident. “They’ll (the patches) bust right back out in this kind of weather.”

At Large City Councilman Bob Howard said he’s received complaints about potholes from all parts of the city, but said they’ve been match by a near-equal number of compliments for the work that Howell’s crews are doing.

“The public’s been very patient with us, and we do appreciate it,” Howell said.

He said good weather is going to bring bad news about potholes for the motoring public.

“When the roads are snow and ice covered, you don’t notice them as much,” he said, but “the warmer it gets, the more potholes you’re going to notice.”

Along with the warmer weather though, Howell said, streets crews will be able to focus on patching instead of dividing their time with snow and ice removal.

“We’ll get them filled pretty quickly,” he said.

The start of the construction season will usher in another inconvenience for drivers, but one city officials feel motorists will feel is worthwhile.

“This year, we are doing an enormous amount of street work,” said Councilwoman Marie Press, 2nd Ward.

The City Council will borrow $2 million to overlay streets with asphalt as part of a three-year program to invest $5 million into upgrading the city’s street system. In addition to the $2 million for overlays, streets will also be repaved as part of the city’s sewer projects.

During the first year of the program in 2007, Press said officials heard very few complaints while the streets were tore up during about $1 million worth of work. She feels the response reflects residents’ understanding what the Council is trying to accomplish.

“You’re just going to see a huge improvement every year, and that should start taking the pothole crisis down,” Howell said.

Some of the streets with the worst potholes this season will be repaved over the summer, including Fourth Street from Cedar to Iowa and Fifth Street from Cedar to Broadway, Howell said.

Press said a pothole as wide as the street, near the intersection of Locust and Fifth streets, was “down to the bricks all the way across.” It has also been reported that the trolley car tracks in the old brick streets beneath the asphalt can be seen peering through the potholes in some places.

Councilman Bynum said many people have also complained about Mississippi Drive, which is a state highway maintained by the Iowa Department of Transportation.

“The problem with Muscatine ... is they (the streets) had gotten so far below where they need to be,” said Howard, who said he’s received a number of complaints from residents in northwest Muscatine about potholes in the Leroy Street and Sunrise Circle area.

“We’re not just going to fix them and then leave them till it’s time to fix them again,” said Press.

After completion of the three-year program, it’s estimated the city will have to spend between $500,000 to $750,000 to maintain the improved streets.

In the meantime, Bynum said, “please be patient. We’re doing the best we can.”

“Everyone here at Public Works is ready for spring,” Howell said.

Reporter contact information

Jennifer Meyer: 563-262-0525

jennifer.meyer@muscatinejournal.com