Washington DC Department of Transportation had a choice to make when repaving a residential street, tow a car out of the way or just pave around it.
The Washington DC Department of Transportation is getting attention on Twitter for all the wrong reasons earlier this week. Instead of calling a tow truck to get an illegally parked car blocking their way, they decided to just pave around it, leaving a car-sized blank spot, a blemish on an otherwise beautifully re-paved road.
Check out the tweet for yourself below.
The DC DOT has several projects going on at any one time, one being their Citywide Pavement Restoration project where they go around, “improving and restoring local roadways.”
Before the asphalt repaving team gets to a street where they need to layer on a fresh set of road presumably they let car owners know that, during certain hours of a particular day, they can’t park their.
There will always be one car that doesn’t move in time and it was no different here. Someone driving a Chevrolet Monte Carlo abandoned their car leaving DC road workers with a choice, tow it away or pave around it. They choose the latter.
Anyone with half a brain knows that it costs the DC tax payer a lot more when they have to return with a full crew to correct their botched pavement job.
A simple call to a local towing company could’ve moved the car out of the way in a matter of minutes and city residents wouldn’t have to look at this unsightly road blemish.
We are deploying crews to repair 3900 Yuma Street SE tomorrow along with the 2400 Block of Irving Street SE and 22nd and Hartford Street SE. Also, the 1800 Block of Kalorama Road NW.
— DDOT DC (@DDOTDC) September 10, 2019
DC DOT was quick to respond with the above. It’s not like they will not return.
One DC commissioner pointed out in the comments of the Twitter thread above that ultimately it would’ve somehow looked bad if they just towed a car out of the way, which I disagree with.
Whoever parked there is on city property and must abide by DC’s code of parking.
In Merced, you can only park on a city street for 72 hours before you must move it to another parking spot. It’s not fair to give others a break just because it’s convenient.
City governments are never 100 percent efficient and this is just one of thousands of examples that happen in City Government daily.
If this was a privately owned street, you better believe the property owner will not shell out thousands of dollars to get a repaving crew to return, they’d call a local towing company ASAP.
Thankfully, DC DOT is fixing their mistake. But, as mentioned, guess who ultimately foots the bill.
Asphalt paving material is a very time-sensitive material. When it cools,it’s rock hard and will stick in trucks and in the paver. Did anyone ask if the pavers called in a tow trucK? If they did and it didn’t get there in time,as the saying goes,the show MUST go on!