Bad Road Complaints in Yakima

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Story Published: May 14, 2009 at 10:20 PM PST

By Stacy Lilienthal

One man says he's wrecking his car driving his kids to school, and called us looking for help getting the city to fix the road.

"It's kind of like driving over railroad tracks." says Jim Owens. "It's like washboards. It's that bad." He says he's driven along 19th Avenue between Tieton and Chestnut for 15 years driving his kids to Franklin High School. Owens says he's been calling the school and city about it for years but it's only getting worse. "I blew a tire on it one day coming across it. Of course I might have been going a little bit too fast." he says.

So Action News drove out to 19th Avenue to take a look. I wanted to check the street out myself and found some potholes so big, you can put a big backpack inside them.

Action News went to the City Public Works department and they say it wasn't scheduled for any immediate work. "We don't have anybody that just drives around looking for potholes," explains Director of Public Works Chris Waarvick. "We rely on citizens and other city workers or officials to call us and let us know." He says major work on the road may have to wait, but they have two pothole crews ready to work in the meantime. To his knowledge, no one complained to the public works department about the road until now. "I will have our people go take a look at them immediately."

So while there may be a few more days of dips ahead, results are on the way.

You may remember a month ago when Stacy Lilienthal did a story about bad roads on 64th Avenue and Nob Hill. The city filled potholes mere days after her story.

If you notice bad potholes in Yakima, call the Yakima Public Works Department at 575-6005.

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