Beaverton resident and BikePortland contributor Jim Parsons (we profiled his activism back in May) snapped this photo and posted it to our reader Flickr group earlier this week.
Here’s his description of the photo (links added):
I often ride after dark, and one night I hit this pothole, Hard! Despite all my bike lights, some things you’ll never see until it’s too late. I thought that I had destroyed my rear wheel (fortunately, I didn’t).
I came back during the day, marked it with a piece of debris, and took photos. I then called Washington County Maintenance, and explained what happend
I came by it a few days later (at night), and it’s patched.
To request pothole filling and other road maintenance in Washington County, you can call 503-846-ROAD or contact them via their website.
In the city of Portland, the pothole reporting line is 503-823-BUMP (website here).
OK, some explanation is needed.
I’ve ridden over many potholes,
I’ve seen many potholes all over the country,
this is no pothole.
Seriously, this hole looks to have been formed by intentional cuts. The “car-ward” or left side of the hole shows the remains of white road paint.
The city of Beaverton or Washington county should have records of who would have had permission to make these cuts and who left this hazard.
If this was left by a private citizen or company then they need to be billed for the cost in labor, manpower and materials require to fix it.
This is just as bad as allowing people to dump their leaves in to the bike lane: “oh, the city will deal with it. it’s on the road, it’s not my problem now.
That’s CLEARLY a romulan land mine!
About a year back I was in a packed car on Powell and we hit a pothole hard. The resulting injury was to my head. A reasonable gash after hitting my head on the roof handle…
I had a similar experience on west Burnside between 5th and 6th. Destroyed my back rim. I called the Portland hotline and was very happy to see they repaired the hole within just a few days.