MOUNT VERNON — Motorists in the city of Mount Vernon will be happy to hear the city’s street department has taken advantage of the nice weather to start patching some of the bigger potholes.
Street department employees focused on the Coshocton Road area patching deteriorating roads this week, said Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Mavis.
“The cold mix that they use is warmed and is basically a gooey mixture specifically used during this time of year. And they try to make the application a little bit more extensive by preheating the hole. It won’t be as good as hot mix, but it will be good enough to get us through the rest of winter,” he said. “We will do what we can to keep the major holes filled so there won’t be any accidents.”
A hot mixture is not used this time of year and won’t be available until mid-April.
Resurfacing is a priority for the city’s summer agenda particularly along Coshocton Road/U.S. 36 where the heavily used street is the worst. Since those areas are under the Ohio Department of Transportation’s jurisdiction, Mavis complained to the state over the lack of sustainability of these roadways. The mayor accounts the decline of the roads to the paving that took place in 2005, saying ODOT used a “new” formula mixture at the time that has not held up well over the years.
“Our experience showed areas of breakdowns where there should not have been and they occurred much earlier than expected,” he said.
ODOT responded, informing the mayor that they don’t anticipate repaving that portion of U.S. 36 until 2015. Mavis said the city does have to do maintenance on the roads after they have been paved by the state. However, the most troublesome area has been on West High Street, as well as some areas on Coshocton Road. The city had hoped to get aid in resurfacing these bad areas.
kenesha.beheler@mountvernonnews.com
