On the Highway to… Help!

Did you feel that? The bumpy roads in Harrison are giving many passengers good reason to ask the dreaded question no driver wants to hear: Did you hit something?

Chances are, if you've driven through certain sections of Westchester County in the past few months, you have. Potholes, bumps and ruts, results of a harsh winter's toll on pavement and asphalt, are tearing up tires and aggravating axels of cars all over Harrison. 

Pains are being felt in more places than behind the wheel. Car owners are making more payments now than any other time of year for auto-mechanical work.

"We're definitely seeing a lot of drivers coming in, with similar problems: alignment, tires, and front-end damage," said Richie Mohl, president of Blue Chip Automotive on Halstead Avenue. "They feel vibrations when they're driving, or their car is pulling to one side. In fact, we have a car on the lift right now that needed new tires put on the front and when we were working on it we noticed the axels were shot."

Kelly McCutcheln from the Harrison Department of Public Works said this year has been especially bad for drivers, but road repairs may not be on the top of the town's to-do list.

"People call in with complaints, and we send out someone to patch up a street here and there," McCutcheln explained. "But it's different this year, because of our budgetary restraints. Before, we could use our yearly budget to choose a number of roads to repair, but right now that's just not possible."

Mohl said spring is when auto-repair shops like Blue Chip Automotive see the most business.

"More people are out on the road: it's warm, its vacation time. After thawing out from the winter months, the roads don't settle evenly," he explained. "I don't care how well your car is built, if you hit a pothole going at a high speed, that's going to cause damage. A big part of the problem here is the way people drive: going slower, and taking care to avoid hitting holes and ruts in the street will save your car."

On Gleason Place in downtown Harrison sits a highway garage used by the Highway Division, which is responsible for the maintenance and paving of all town roads, sidewalks, and storm drains.

"They're working as we speak," said McCutcheln. "But given our budget and the record amount of rain we've seen so far this season, it is going to be a while before all of the roads are completely smooth."

It seems safe to say until then, buckle up, slow down and keep an eye out for potholes: there's a lot of them.