The city of San Diego’s streets, storm drains, buildings and pipes break faster than can be fixed. Some of them break again, again and again.
Here are five chronic infrastructure problems that festered in 2013 and where the city’s at in fixing them.
Allied Gardens Zombie Sinkholes
For more than three years, pieces of Princess View Drive in Allied Gardens have fallen into the earth.
“A bazillion,” city transportation spokesman Bill Harris said of the amount of the road’s sinkholes. “That’s with a ‘b’ and you can quote me.”
Every time one emerged, the city sent out repair crews. But they never fixed the broken corrugated metal pipe under the road. And the sinkholes would come back.
Kathy Wiskur, who lives adjacent to Princess View Drive, said residents feared falling into the holes. One of them grew from eight inches across to three feet within a few hours, she said.
“I barely missed it pulling into the street,” Wiskur said.
A replacement of the broken pipe is scheduled to begin in January, Harris said.
The Busted Main Water Main
Few streets in San Diego are more vital than North Harbor Drive – the city’s link to the bay and the airport.
Yet three times in the last year, water pipes along the road have burst. Most recently, a break during Thanskgiving week opened up a 20-foot by 40-foot sinkhole and police closed down part of the road for more than 12 hours.
The water main is currently being replaced and is scheduled to be done by May, a water department spokesman said.
Overgrown Tree Leaves Leave Lights Out
Residents in City Heights and other Mid-City neighborhoods have complained about a lack of street lights.
In Teralta Park in City Heights, lights are there but so are overgrown tree leaves.
“It makes it so you can’t see exactly what’s lingering in the darkness,” said Maritza Maksimow, an outreach manager with the City Heights Community Development Corporation nonprofit.
The trees were trimmed last January, and park volunteers sent a letter to the city in August to ask for a more frequent schedule so the park could be better used at night.
That hasn’t happened, but a regularly scheduled tree trim is coming soon, Harris said. It should be done before the end of the year.
The Hole in One La Jolla Water Pipe
On the outskirts of the La Jolla Country Club, a water pipe along Country Club Drive has broken five times in the past three years. The most recent break caused $400,000 in damage to a home, a spokeswoman for City Councilwoman Sherri Lightner said.
Harris said the city’s to blame for part of the problem, but also said a property along the road shares some responsibility, too.
“They didn’t shore up their hillside property,” he said.
An emergency replacement of 1,500 feet of water pipe along the street is under way, and expected to be done in early January.
The Phantom San Ysidro Sidewalk
When we last left the sidewalk-less half-mile stretch of road outside San Ysidro High School – the one that forces students to navigate a skinny dirt path next to a steep canyon – the city had pledged to begin construction in early 2014.
That’s still the case, Harris said.
“The money,” he said, “will be in the bank.”