Oakland’s Potholes

Two stars, because I’ve noticed that some of the worst potholes I used to encounter all of the time are starting to get fixed!
I won’t hold my breath, but certain areas, especially those that were preciously destroyed by big rig traffic seem to be getting better!

Son of a gun. Oakland potholes just took out my front license plate and made me bite my lip. The hole was so deep I thought for sure we’d have to physically lift the car out. Ugh. Do they reimburse for that? Wishful thinking.

Oakland has some of the most innocent looking, but violent potholes I’ve ever experienced! Especially when there filed with water, they look like they’re maybe an inch deep. But Nooooo. They actually reach to the center of the earth!
I feel like I should be driving a quad or dirtbike, or at least something that has about a foot of suspension travel… Perhaps a trophy truck would be useful here…
I feel bad for the poor bicyclists & motorcyclists that get pushed into potholes by cars, or if they don’t see, or can’t avoid them. I’ve seen a couple people riding bicycles crash after hitting deep potholes, one of them had to walk his bike home because the rim was damaged so badly!
THE STRUGGLE IS REAL!!!

If you want to knock yourself silly just take a ride down a little lesser known street just off High street before the high street bridge called Tidewater. The street is just turning into gravel it’s so mutilated. Pot holes have turned into canyons, (especially as you approach Lesser st). This is due to the fact that there is a trucking company at the end that have trucks lined up, up and down both tidewater and lesser. The truck traffic has mangled up that street and turned it into a dangerous nightmare. The trucking companies obviously don’t give a @$% to help pay for the road. I think it’s forgotten because it’s a small little edge of Oakland, but there are many thriving business there, even a little regional park. Tidewater looks like it’s going to become part of the water soon as it’s so mangled up with very deep pot holes. I guess the city is waiting for some motorcycle to crash, a bicyclist to get sucked in or a car to hit one 4 feet long, 3 feet wide and 1 foot deep, and go flying off into oncoming traffic. just take stroll down that little street that no one cares about if you want see what riding on the moon (with gravity) feels like.

So I didn’t make up this comedy «business», but I have been waiting to comment on this subject. I’ve always said that driving in Oakland is easy but tricky to cycle, and vice versa in Berkeley. The reason for the latter is a different review, but the challenge of cycling in Oakland is of course the roads.
Oakland’s streets really aren’t the best (SF has a much larger budget), but they’ve recently reworked the top-​end of Broadway from College down quite a long way. Not only are all the potholes gone, but there’s now a wide bike lane! My sadly isn’t in much shape to ride, but it does make a cruise down the hill much friendlier now, versus bumping your bike through the holes, and trying to share the 3^rd lane with a bus.
Oakland, you have a lot of problems, but I see you improving in little ways all the time.

The potholes are throughout the city from East to West… it’s terrible on a car. There are certain areas in the hills that have recently been improved, but that’s the extent of it.
It makes me wonder about the tax appropriations.

One of the worst potholes in the collection of Oakland potholes (for me at least) was the one off Lincoln Avenue, near Head Royce college prep school in the Winter of 2012. I mean you are whizzing by and BAM, the thunderous jolt that feels that half of your car is in the sewer system. You can’t swerve, unless you want to hit a coed. She’ll mind. It took the city 3 week to fix that. I’m sure that there are worse stories out there. Sorry… no pix

The worst thing about living in Oakland.

Thank goodness I’ve delayed getting my car alignment. The potholes I drove into the other night would’ve just had me going right back to the shop. I’m totally not a fan.

For a city with a moderate climate, Oakland has the crappiest streets I’ve ever seen. Worse than Minneapolis, which is frozen tundra 8 months of the year, and mucky for three more. I lost my Datsun B210 somewhere between 14^th and 10^th on Jackson. I wrote many angry letters to the city, and nothing happened for a decade. Then, miraculously I returned from a vacation to find Jackson Street beautifully paved, up to 14^th Street. I’ve actively identified a new corridor to complain about (the options are still numerous): 10^th Street between Laney College and La Escuellita — cruising this corridor, I hit a massive pothole and flipped my bike trailer. Luckily, I’d already dropped the kids off at school and it was empty at the time. Oakland is slowly building infrastructure. Street improvement could be the next frontier. Standby!

By «good» I mean «bad». Is that how the kids lingo works these days?
I nominated some North Oakland potholes in an Oakland pothole competition. they won. but instead of fixing the holes, they are getting worse.
Perhaps there is a national pothole competition? If so, I think we have a fighting chance of winning.
p. s. — my favorite is how they circle the potholes with yellow paint? chalk? Is the city doing this out of pothole pride? We might be able to pay for these repairs ourselves by charging admission to a «tour of oakland’s famous potholes»

It’s a mine field out there, and I am not talking about the ones found during war!!!
Oakland, what has happened to your streets!?! Every where I drive I spend more time looking for potholes in the road than I do other cars.
At least 5 of my friends have repaired their tires, alignment, and car axels this winter and spring time due to potholes. It’s the worst I have ever seen it :(

HAHAHA! YES!
Kirkham street between 5^th and 7^th in West O.
These bad boys could almost swallow your car.
Ironic that the City of Oakland has a pothole fill in blitz every year. Too bad it’s about as productive as my dear RAIDERS…
The streets have their own drive by’s in O. That’s why you see cars with monster wheels!

Screw you Potholes… You make driving the roads of Oakland like some Deer Hunter game that uses 5 bullets instead of one in the six shooter.
I’ve ditched the effort of driving my cars around Oakland because of your lameness.
Every time I go out there is new pothole that springs up; almost like someone poured water on Gizmo, fed him past midnight, and then booooom… 100 more of these little fuckers pop up.
No more can I remember each and every friggin pothole around this place. I remember it was fun for a while, like some game. Now you’re like playing minesweeper on über advance mode where every step concludes you getting blow the fug up. Even the Hurt Locker couldn’t deactivate these damn potholes.
And speaking of the «Hurt Locker», what is the City doing about this?
Every time you come out and fill one of these they just come right on back. What are you using to fill these with, Butter? Because every time I turn around the hole is back and even bigger than before.
So here is what I’m going to do. I’m going to setup a Life Guard tower, a few beach chairs, a few local crack heads, and one loud mega phone and whistle. I’m gonna find that large pot hole, fill it with water, and act like I’m being the life guard while a bunch of crackheads go swimming in the hole. Maybe then, as I’m disrupting traffic at the local plunge, you’ll understand the severity of this crap.