Pothole protest sign. Image courtesy: WAOW TV
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU-WAOW) – Patrick Meyer got tired of driving home and having his car shake from hitting several potholes, so he put up a sign outside of his yard that reads “Fix the road. We had better roads in Vietnam.”
Meyer is a Vietnam War vet, so he knows a thing or two about how the roads are down there, and said this is not the first time he’s tried to raise awareness, saying, “Last year I had a sign that said, ‘fix road please’ and I got nothing. So this time I thought, ‘well let’s go a little bigger’ and I got a bigger sign and I got letters that glow at night.”
Meyer is the only resident red up with road conditions, Diane McMahon has lived here for four years, and is pushing for the city to do more to fix the potholes.
McMahon said, “I think they really need to consider making it a priority because of the damage that it can do to vehicles. It’s damaging to cars, and dangerous to people.”
Eric Lindman from the city Department of Public Works saying that the city is working to patch as many holes as they can, but also says the city has not been saving enough money to deal with road issues.
Lindman said, “We’re looking at over $100 million dollars in our current budget for our local streets. We try to put in up to $2 million a year, so we’re not really keeping up.”
Lindman said that the DOT does have some repairs scheduled, but not until 2029, leaving only temporary fixes until then.
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