‘Think someone’s drinking and driving’: Mass. drivers dodging danger as pothole season arrives early

ATTLEBORO, Mass. — It’s nearly Christmas weekend and forecasters are predicting a wild swing in temperatures for the Northeast — not to mention several inches of rain. That’s a perfect recipe for the development of potholes — but, surprise — they’re already here.

“You always think someone’s out there drinking and driving because they’re swerving all over the place,” said Patrick King. “But it’s the potholes that they’re trying to miss.”

Lately, King has been doing some pothole-dodging of his own in Jamaica Plain.

“Just a lot of loose gravel, deep potholes and a lot of round sewage caps on the main streets,” he said. “There’s no snow and ice yet so I don’t know how they’re coming up with all these potholes quite yet.”

But King does have a possible theory: maybe the potholes just haven’t been filled from last year.

Boston 25 News did contact MassDOT to check if pothole repairs are on the agency’s radar yet — given some Boston-area highways are riddled — but we did not hear back.

Heather Porreca did hear back from the city of Attleboro.

Porreca, Vice President of the Hebron Food Pantry, says potholes on Sanford Street have made it hazardous not just for cars — but people.

“We get 8,500 pounds of food from the Greater Boston Food Bank every week, and trying to navigate that with our carts is incredibly challenging,” she said.

And, at times, it’s been dangerous.

“We have our patrons park either in front of the pantry or across the street at the YMCA, and trying to navigate the uneven pavement, we have had multiple times where we’ve had to call an ambulance or rescue because some of our patrons have fallen and gotten hurt,” Porreca said.

Directly opposite the food pantry’s entrance is the biggest pothole of them all — a two-foot gash that continues to get bigger as more pieces of asphalt snap off.

When will the potholes get fixed? Porreca doesn’t know.

“I have had conversations with the director of the DPW here and because of the weather or time constraints, unfortunately they haven’t been able to come out and address the issue,” she said.

Potholes are not just an issue for Attleboro. In Milford, Beaver Street is gouged in several places — with one particularly large crater lying in wait just outside the Stop & Shop parking lot.

At Ron’s Tire & Service in Framingham, the first pothole-flats of the season have already come in. Owner Ron Saponaro knows they won’t be the last.

“They get towed in sometimes with broken wheels and blown-out tires and bent suspension parts,” he said. “Sometimes it just gets the tire. Sometimes it bends the wheel. Sometimes both.”

And sometimes, drivers may not even know the tire is damaged.

Bubbles can form on the side or inner wall of the tire as a result of pothole damage, and it may not affect driving. But Saponaro said those tires are prone to blow out — and must be replaced. He recommends drivers have tires thoroughly examined after a hard pothole strike — even if they seem okay.

“We have plenty of tires in stock if it happens,” Saponaro said. “We’re here.”

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