Scratching your head over a infuriating intersection, rough road or troubling traffic? The neighbors team receives a lot of “What’s up with that?” questions relating to roads and traffic and we don’t have room in our section to answer all of them. Here’s a list of contacts that can give you the skinny on road questions, if you’re itching for an answer:
City contacts
For general questions about roads, call the city transportation line at 360-487-7700.
To report potholes and other road issues in Vancouver, call the Vancouver Operations Center at 360-696-8177 or use the form at http://cityofvancouver.us/servicerequest.asp?menuid=10465&submenuID=17081.
County contacts
To report a road problem, call Clark County at 360-397-2446 or fill out the form at http://www.clark.wa.gov/public-works/operations/roadmaint.asp.
In downtown Vancouver, south of 13th Street — or maybe it’s Eighth Street — Washington Street is in terrible condition. You basically have to crawl over the pot holes in the left-hand lane when heading to the bridge. It’s like driving on a country road. I know the city is updating roads in other places, but why don’t they prioritize Washington Street? It’s in the heart of downtown and must look bad to visitors, especially when we have big conventions at the Hilton.
Scratching your head over a infuriating intersection, rough road or troubling traffic? The neighbors team receives a lot of "What's up with that?" questions relating to roads and traffic and we don't have room in our section to answer all of them. Here's a list of contacts that can give you the skinny on road questions, if you're itching for an answer:
City contacts
For general questions about roads, call the city transportation line at 360-487-7700.
To report potholes and other road issues in Vancouver, call the Vancouver Operations Center at 360-696-8177 or use the form at http://cityofvancouver.us/servicerequest.asp?menuid=10465&submenuID=17081.
County contacts
To report a road problem, call Clark County at 360-397-2446 or fill out the form at http://www.clark.wa.gov/public-works/operations/roadmaint.asp.
— Donna Raider, Carter Park
Washington Street is in bad shape, but isn’t on the city’s radar according to Vancouver Senior Civil Engineer Ryan Miles. The part south of Evergreen Boulevard has some problems but there are a few things keeping the city from addressing those problems, he said.
The first thing is money.
Every year city staff assess the condition of half the city streets, Miles said. They collect data on cracks, pot holes and the works. They use the data to rate the roads. Ratings are used to help determine which streets will be repaired.
They can’t get to every street due to budget restraints, so they make decisions based on the how much the repairs will cost, Miles said. The idea is to keep as many roads in as good a condition as possible, he said.
There are three levels of road repair: resealing, repaving and reconstructing. Each costs more than the last. Miles equates the different levels of repair to taking care of a home.
The surface seal is like painting a house, he said.
“If your home is in pretty good shape, it will protect it for a few more years. If you let it go too long without paint, you’ll have to replace the siding (repaving),” which is significantly more expensive. Wait a little longer and you’re going to need to do structural repairs, he said.
If Washington Street was a house, it would need more than just a fresh coat of paint or new siding. The part closest to the I-5 onramps probably needs to be completely rebuilt, Miles said.
“Right now, our program doesn’t have money to reconstruct roads because it costs so much to take out the road, rebuild the base and the whole thing,” Miles said. “You try to get as much as you can done with the budget you have.”
The cost is significant, but the main reason the city isn’t doing anything is that pesky Columbia River Crossing project.
Current project plans will send light rail directly down Washington Street, and frankly it wouldn’t make sense for the city to invest in repairs now when the road will likely be torn up in a few years, Miles said.
“As things flush out on the CRC … we’ll have a better idea of what our options are,” he said.
If the road is torn up to make room for light rail, it will be cheaper for the city to completely replace it at that time.
Although there aren’t any changes on the books, the city can do spot repairs on particularly nasty pot holes and other problems.
To report road problems, call the city Operations Center at 360-696-8177.
Got a question about your neighborhood? We’ll get it answered. Send “What’s up with that?” questions to neighbors@columbian.com.
