Taxpayers shell out cash for pothole damage

Posted at: 05/14/2009 10:17 PM | Updated at: 05/15/2009 9:14 AM
By: Jeremy Jojola, Eyewitness News 4; Charlie Pabst, KOB.com

The next time you hit that bump in the road, think about this: Potholes and broken manholes could damage your car, costing you thousands. The city will sometimes pay for your repairs.

An Eyewitness News 4 investigation found when the city didn't fix potholes or broken manhole covers quickly, it cost taxpayers nearly $100,000 in payments to drivers.

According to the Trip National Transportation Research Group, a national transportation watchdog group, Albuquerque has some of the roughest roads in the nation—at a cost of nearly $600 a year to each driver.

The City of Albuquerque had to fix nearly 3,000 potholes last year on the 4,000 miles of roads it is responsible for.

They are repaired by four city workers who work full-time, racing from pothole to pothole every day.

When the city loses the race to repair, you do, too.

Alex Vaughn says he had to pay out of his own pocket recently when he hit a pothole downtown.

"Bent my rim, but I didn't lose control of the bike, so fortunately I was able to pull off to the side of the road and not get squished," Vaughn recalls.

Some drivers take their pothole damage claim to the city and win, sometimes receiving thousands of dollars. The city paid one driver more than $3,000 just because of one pothole.

Adding up all of the paid out pothole claims, the city forked over $19,942.13 in 2008.

Broken or missing manholes cost taxpayers even more. The city paid out $43,337.71 to drivers last year for manhole damage.

Records show one manhole near I-25 and Martin Luther King wasn’t fixed for three days, causing damage to four vehicles with a cost of $16,422.98. The city suspects the manhole broke because of wear and it was never reported.

"In one case, the person ran over the manhole cover and it caused damage to their car. They put the manhole cover back, started to deal with their problem and didn't tell us about it," according to Peter Ennen with the City of Albuquerque.

He processes all the pothole and manhole claims for the city’s Risk Management Division. He says sometimes the driver who files a claim gets paid. Other drivers just have to bear the burden if they can’t prove the city is at fault.

Ennen says, "Do we or should we have known about this, have we had time to respond...had we known to fix the problem? Did the person take steps themselves to protect their own interest? Did they avoid the pothole or go around the manhole cover or something like that?"

Water valve covers, that look like smaller manholes, are a problem, too, costing the city $22,898.42 last year.

Alltogether, the city paid out $86,178.26 to drivers in tax dollars because of potholes, bad manholes and water valve covers.

To file a claim if you have damage after hitting a pothole or broken manhole, call 311.

You can report potholes or broken manholes for repair online at: http://www.cabq.gov/streets/
street-repair-request

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