In March of 2022 I wrote a piece for the Town Crier about the ongoing construction craziness on El Camino Real in and around our neighborhood. The King’s Highway has undergone changes that even the most competitive conquistadors could never have imagined.
Welcome to “Los Baches de Los Reyes” aka “The King’s Potholes.”
Every day, drivers deal with an obstacle course of prodigious potholes and construction chaos along both sides of El Camino Real between San Antonio and Castro Street in Mountain View, Los Altos and beyond.The crisis of cracks and concaveness deepens by the day.
My car’s greatest fear is the Grand Canyon on the northbound middle lane between Ortega and Jordan. As a fisherman, it crossed my mind that the depth of this hole would make a nice bass pond.
This ongoing pothole problem is an “ass-fault,” in need of a solution. Shall we band together and take care of filling the multiple voids of level streets?
Is it legal to fill a pothole on local roads by a pothole posse? Can I draft friends to create an asphalt army? The short answer is “no.” Most municipalities will tell you that filling a pothole yourself on a public street is a no-go.
You can’t just head to your nearest hardware store to purchase an asphalt pothole filler bag for $20 and add a metal tamper for $40 and fill a pothole.
Let me know the last time a bill for alignment and a new tire were paid by local or state governments based on your level headed letter.
I’m not exactly sure what Mountain View and Los Altos ordinance codes say but it may come close to “Every person, unless otherwise specified, is required to obtain a permit before placing, constructing or repairing any curb, gutter, sidewalk, driveway, pavement, base course, retaining wall, storm drain, culvert or other work of similar nature in, over, along, across or through any road.”
How about a cooperation conference between Mountain View, Los Altos and community groups willing to become a fill-in force and improve a simple solution for improving our quality of life.
Andy Dolich has more than five decades of experience in the professional sports industry, including executive positions in the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB. He is currently an executive of Fan Controlled Sports and Entertainment (FCSE) and president of Los Altos based Dolich Consulting.
