Once again, the beginning of spring has presented us with its greeting card in the form of a leftover gift from another harsh winter – potholes.

                Area roads have once again become car-wreckers as the potholes, some large – some larger – wait to tear tires, crush wheels, bust springs and worse.  Smooth road surfaces have turned wash-board rough at the hands of winter's freeze.

                Road crews work tirelessly to keep up with the unscheduled road openings.  It seems that by the time they finish patching all of the craters, traffic and the weather cause them to start the temporary repair process all over again until warmer conditions allow for a more lasting solution.

                One of the problems exasperated drivers experience is finding the right person to report a pothole problem to.  In our readership area, roads are maintained by the local municipality, the county, or the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT).

                When you have a complaint or want to report a road problem, knowing who maintains what roads can be key to getting it fixed and keeping your blood pressure down.

                As an example, Geryville Pike and Knight Road (Upper Hanover) are the responsibility of Montgomery County.  Portions of Seminary Street (Pennsburg) and Sixth Street (Red Hill) are PennDOT, and Kumry Road and Krammes Road in Milford Township are the responsibility of PennDOT. 

                PennDOT maintains a "Customer Care Center" at www.dmv.state.pa.us/contact_us/index.shtml to report potholes and other concerns.  You can also call 1-800-FIX-ROAD and be connected directly to the county maintenance office in your area for issues that have an immediate need to be corrected like missing signs or roadway hazards.

                If it isn't a PennDOT maintained roadway, call your municipal or county roads department and notify them of the issue.

                We've all struggled with the annual pothole problems.  Perhaps it's time to revisit a maintenance policy that has waned over the years; revive it and add to it.

                 PennDOT offers municipalities a certain amount of money to keep their roads clear of ice and snow during the winter.  In the past, many area municipalities took advantage of the offer.  After all, their equipment was driving over the state's roads while keeping their own roads open.  It made sense to drop the plow and help pay the bills instead of driving over a snow-covered road with the plow up.

                Problem is, as the years went by, PennDOT's offering didn't keep up with the costs of the municipality to keep the ice and snow off their roads and more and more municipalities opted out.  So, it is not unusual to see government maintenance equipment traversing snow-covered roads that they are not responsible for, on their way to clean other snow-covered roads that they are responsible for.

                Perhaps PennDOT could find savings in reviewing the policy to include acceptable costs for cleaning the roads, and add a section that would include filling potholes through the end of March.

                After all, it seems like a waste of time and money having a municipality's truck and pothole-patching crew drive over someone else's road-canyon on the way to fix a nearby crater of their own.