A conspiracy theory

[Mark Moran]

Has the city of Lakewood entered into some sort of agreement with the auto body part repairmen in the city by placing all those charming half-foot mounds where the sewer caps are, every 50 yards on Clifton Avenue travelling east? They are just high enough and evenly spaced enough and unexpected enough so that at 35 mph you disengage any number of parts from your car going over them.

[Bryan Schwegler]

Is Clifton a city job? I thought it was the state since it's a state route?

I do agree, the mounds are obnoxious.

[Jim DeVito]

HAHA I used to joke that I need to sue the city for a new front end. Let refer to them now as "Progress Mounds" It is all for the greater good. Prior to the redo there were quite a bit of places where you felt like you need to apologize to your car after driving over them.

Bryan,

I am not sure as to the extent of the partnership between the city and ODOT, perhaps someone more "in the know" could speak to that. I do know however, that I have seen a few ODOT branded trucks sitting on side streets for hours on end apparently "supervising" the process.

[Jim DeVito]

Perhaps "Freedom Mounds" would make people feel better about the stunt driving taking place on Clifton right now. (Sorry could not resist)

[John Guscott]

seriously, those bumps are ridiculous.

I was driving down Clifton during rush hour the other day and everyone in that lane was swerving to avoid. Surprised no was was clipped.

[Tim Liston]

Yeesh.....

I'm not sure what you all expect ODOT to do. It's not possible to resurface Clifton Blvd. or virtually any roadway in just a day or two.

And to resurface, you first have to remove a 3-4 inches of old surface. That is naturally going to cause the manholes to protrude. They did minimize the potential impact by building the mounds around them.

The only other option as I see it is to close down Clifton for the duration of the project, which of course is not possible if for no other reason than for access by emergency vehicles.

And westbound they have already put the first layer down in the middle lane, where the protrusions are, so the manholes now only protrude an inch or so. I would guess they will do eastbound on Monday.

So just relax and slow down. You don't have to drive 35 MPH. Or take Lake or Detroit.

[Mark Moran]

My post was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, I trust its understood. Im relaxed and aware that street construction involves inconvenience. But it doesnt seem unreasonable for ODOT or whoever to have placed barriers around the mounds. That wouldd have the effect of slowing everything down of course--but thats the point. If you arent aware the mounds are there--as I wasnt the first time I encountered them--you either go over them at speed and do your car a bit of no good, or you swerve at speed risking swiping the guy in the next lane.