Potholes at Curb Ramps
Potholes are annoying, but if you’re watching the road you can often miss them. When I drive our car I do my best to avoid potholes, but in my power wheelchair I often can’t miss them — they’re at the bottom of the curb ramps.
When the city builds ramps they cut out enough asphalt to build the forms — then patch in the hole later. But patches, as you might expect, don’t stay put. The 17″ wheels on our Honda don’t like hole this size, the 5″ front wheels on my chair get lost in these. I have the email address of the city’s guy in charge of asphalt so this is likely fixed already, but I encounter more problems than I have time to report.
— Steve Patterson
You’re fighting the laws of physics and the laws of nature. Water runs down hill, seeking the path of least resistance, filling cracks, both between dissimilar materials and in cohesive materials. Every winter, water freezes and expands, cracking hard materials. Potholes are a fact of life, in regions like ours, and a never-ending challenge for public works departments. Sure, the city needs to stay on top of this, but wouldn’t addressing the 5″ wheel issue also be part of the solution, as well? Larger wheels would give you both more options and provide more safety: https://www.google.com/search?q=off+road+power+wheelchair&rlz=1CAACAC_enUS564US564&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=657&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=akg2VdPoL8bXsAW67IHgCg&ved=0CDIQsAQ&dpr=1