By Don Rush
Freeze. Thaw. Rain. Freeze. Thaw and repeat. Yup, it’s that time of the year again and drivers in Oxford-Addison area should be on the lookout for potholes.
Last week the warm temperatures, rain then flash freeze caused area roads and drains to flood and some deep potholes to pop-up. While area drivers have cause to be frustrated with potholes and flooding, according to Craig Bryson, Senior Communications Manager for Oakland County’s road commission, this pothole season hasn’t been all that bad.
“Really about average – has not been terrible. While we have had the freeze/thaw that triggers many potholes, the fluctuation in temps has not been as great as in some years. We are also in a bit of a better position than in previous years, in that we have put a new surface on nearly 500 miles of roads over the last five years, since road funding increased in Michigan,” he said. “Many of the roads that we have resurfac

ed or reconstructed have been the ones that previously had the most potholes. Of course, the ones we have not yet been able to get to remain the largest source of potholes.”
According to Bryson, the county maintains just over 2,700 miles of road, including “about 85 miles in Oxford Township and about 50 miles in Addison Township.”
Last week’s weather caused much flooding at the intersection of Red Barn and Kintrye in Oxford Township. According to township supervisor Jack Curtis, he asked the county for help.

“This is a county issue. The storm drain is, one, blocked by ice. Two, the extreme thaw over the past few days has overwhelmed the storm water management system county wide. We had over a foot of snow accumulation melt in one day on top of two inches of rain causing flooding everywhere in lower Michigan. The ground is frozen and there is no percolation of any melt or rainfall,” he said. “I had the RCOC (Road Commission of Oakland County) go out to this location and attempt to break the ice blocking storm drain and the blade was damaged during this attempt. This location is on the RCOC growing list of frozen culverts, blocked storm drain inlets and flooding list of things to do.”

What to do when you discover a pothole?
So, when you’re driving area roads and find a pothole (hopefully safely and successfully avoiding it with your vehicle) what do you do?
According to Bryson, “. . . please let us know ASAP. Anyone can report a pothole by clicking on the ‘report an issue’ button at the top of the homepage of the RCOC website, www.rcocweb.org or they can call us at 877-858-4804 or send us an e-mail at dcsmail@rcoc.org. We appreciate these reports, as we can obviously not be everywhere at once.”
True to form, last Thursday morning there was a pothole located on eastbound W. Drahner Road by the old Dominican Sisters property that was hidden by a large amounts of water. A number of people on social media complained about hitting the pothole. By 11:30 that morning, road commission workers had filled in the hole.
“We actually patch potholes year round. In the winter, when we are not plowing or salting, pothole patching is one of our main activities, as well as addressing drainage issues,” Bryson said. “Of course, this activity ramps up typically when we have the ‘February thaw’ and in the spring when temps begin to rise.”

In Leonard Village there are a little over two miles of paved roads and about three miles of unpaved road. According to Village President Michael McDonald, “We usually discover problems ourselves or through resident contact, less often from non-residents. We try to have cold patch to make repairs on hand, and generally have the holes in pavement patched within a week or so depending on weather and severity of the hole.
“Dirt roads require us to grade and fill the worst situations but since our dirt roads are primarily residential use they do not encounter high speed driving as might be experienced on the paved roads. We keep road gravel on hand as might be required to repair dirt roads, but weather and temperature affect our ability to do a permanent repair after a pothole or condition is reported. The public is welcome to contact the Village office or leave a phone message to report these types of problems.
In Addison Township they recommend citizens call the Road Commission, however “if they call into our office we usually call the Road Commission also,” supervisor Bruce Pearson said. “ . . . I usually call the Supervisor, Troy Diederich (of the RCOC) if we have a bad area.”
In Oxford Village, the Village is responsible for maintenance of 6.01 miles of Major Streets and 9.77 miles of local streets. MDOT contracts with the Oakland County Road Commission for all work on M-24 so that is not in their mileage amounts. Potholes are addressed by the Department of Public
Works (DPW) personnel.

“Usually by the time I hear about a pothole the DPW already knows about it and has it on their radar to address,” village manager Joe Madore said.
If someone wants to report a pothole they can call the village office or email us using any one of the following emails:
manager@thevillageofoxford.org
frontdesk@thevillageofoxford.org
office@thevillageofoxford.org
dbrantley@thevillageofoxford.org