Thursday, December 3, 2015

Two Days Later

The NCDOT showed up to deposit a blob of asphalt in the ungraveled and shallowest slice of the rut in front of my mailbox. This morning they were doing major repairs where a section of the scenic byway was getting ready to collapse. They must have had some leftovers when they came back to fetch the work sign they parked in front of my house.





















It had rained a lot harder than I was aware of. There were all kinds of dirt, gravel and leaf wash outs along the road and several places where water was crossing the road long after the rain had stopped. My gravel stayed put. That meant my trenching and diversion efforts were a success.

Why did the NCDOT have to go and ugly up the fresh road repair I had so kindly done for them? I mean really, was it worth the effort for that piddly amount of asphalt?





















An ugly blob of asphalt wasn't the worst of the repairs the DOT did in front of my house today. Are you frickin kidding me? They dug two huge, side by side trenches across the road shoulder to channel runoff water straight down into my garden from a sunken section of the byway.

I have driven every mile of the scenic byway more times than I can count. Not once have I ever seen water diverted off the road like this. This is a completely unauthorized and highly irresponsible repair method. I strenuously object. I will not be having a huge gully cut into and through my garden.

One hard rain is all you get. At the first sign of gully making those trenches will be filled back in.





















There was a perfectly fine, fully functioning gully thirty feet down the road and below my property line already. Look what they did to that. They filled it in, covered it over and regraded the whole shoulder. I better put some grass seed on it or it won't be that way for long.

I had even lined the gully with all of the asphalt chunks the snow plow had been scraping off the road that didn't come flying down into the garden. They didn't even need to add rip rap rock. There was a working gully already. Why couldn't they just use that one?

No, they're going to make a new gully further up the road where that dark spot from the two huge trenches they dug is.





















There will be no gully running through my garden. I promise you that. I will fill in your new trenches as many times as I have to if needed. No. No. No. JUST NO. I will not have it.





















The DOT crews patrol this road on a very consistent basis. I actually give them credit for doing a good job in keeping a failing state highway open and passable. I'd be even happier if they picked up the trash. But I do that job in addition to my road repair work.

It simply is not possible for the amount of time they spend rubbernecking on this byway to think it is in any way acceptable to run a gully through my garden. The signs are obvious. This section of byway is of high scenic value. Don't mess it up!


6 comments:

Lola said...

That "blob" is ugly. Why don't they leave well enough alone.

Lisa at Greenbow said...

The rotten buggers. They just don't think beyond keeping themselves busy.

Sallysmom said...

You need to call and talk to someone.

Unknown said...

Your tax dollars at work . . .

beverly said...

Wow that's unbelievable. Maybe talk to them next time you see them; the ones on the street are often more reasonable than the ones on the other end of the phone...... In the meantime you need to find a Bobcat haha!
Good luck; that's pretty awful.

Christopher C. NC said...

Lola they should have either left it alone or asphalted the whole thing.

Lisa I could have shown them a half dozen other more useful things to keep themselves busy.

Sallysmom I feel I would get much more satisfaction, not to mention action by filling in the trenches myself if needed.

Hugh I payed for more than that tiny spit of asphalt. I have a feeling this section of the byway is up next for resurfacing.

Bev I think a hard rake and shovel will suffice to fill in the trenches if too much water comes through there. They were obviously machine dug, but I'm not a DOT employee. I can do it by hand.