Pothole patching paves path to profound column

Perhaps the pothole patcher is swifter than the pen.

All I know is we had a plan on Tuesday to do a story about all the potholes popping up like petunias, but the reporter assigned to that story got suddenly pulled off it because some governor had decided to appoint someone to the U.S. Senate or some such silly thing.

Our strategy was to ask our staff to note where they'd seen the worst potholes, which we'd turn into a highly scientific list. We also called a few public works and road departments to see if they knew where the potholes might be located.

I lobbied for us to finish the story; I even offered up Jake Griffin, our DuPage County reporter, to complete the story. My sense of urgency, even on a day all heck was breaking loose in state government, was to get something in the paper before all our alleged potholes got patched.

Laugh if you will, but I've seen the evidence with my own eyes that government can occasionally work. Reports poured in from my staff that an especially pothole-laden stretch was the eastbound lanes of I-88, the portion east of Lisle that hasn't yet been resurfaced. And, as Jake worked the story that Tuesday, we heard that the tollway authority had talked an asphalt plant, closed for the winter, into reopening so the patching with heated asphalt, which apparently works light-years better than the cold patch, could commence.

The story detailing all this ran Wednesday, along with the staff-produced list of some sites with bad potholing. The Reagan Tollway, I-355, Butterfield Road, Gary and North avenues were among those mentioned. So partly out of fear that our story might be quickly running out of gas, I figured I had to determine whether that pothole list was still valid. So, I hopped on I-88 first thing Wednesday morning, headed for the most-often-cited stretch of pothole hell. In all fairness to the Illinois Toll Highway Authority, which we've jabbed pretty good on a number of occasions in this newspaper, it had done a terrific job with the special hot patch, at least between Route 53 and Highland Avenue. I got off there because - wouldn't you know it - tollway crews ahead had blocked a lane for ongoing pothole patching and traffic was backed up, according to my friends at WBBM NewsRadio 780.

So, I swung over to the oft-cited Butterfield Road and headed east to 22nd Street in Oak Brook. Witnessed firsthand the cavernous pothole staffer Marcy Bright photographed on 22nd near Midwest Road that appeared with Wednesday's story. Breathed another sigh of relief as I backtracked west on Butterfield and saw no evidence that the nasty potholes our staff mentioned had been filled.

But here's the thing: Were this a trip other than my one-man pothole patrol, I don't think I would have been incensed by the condition of Butterfield Road. And I readily admit our little staff survey may have missed numerous bad spots. I think, and given the Page 1 attention this was given earlier in the week by the metro newspaper, this is more of a Chicago problem, where many more miles of roads go unfixed for longer periods of time.

Just one more advantage to living in the suburbs, in case you've forgotten.

jdavis@dailyherald.com