• Grand Avenue Sinkhole

Monday March 5th a sinkhole on Grand Avenue, between McVicar and Clinton Keith, opened up necessitating a detour around the area. Local residents were allowed through, but not general traffic.

As of 11:00am Tuesday morning.

As this blog was being written, a local resident posted a message on the Wildomar Rap facebook page indicating that it had just reopened (around 2:45pm Tuesday).

Looking east down McVicar at 2:00 pm.

The street has been the site of a new multipurpose trail and bike lanes. The sinkhole opened up after the recent rains we had. The contractor working on the multi-use trail project discovered it and reported to city staff approx 5pm.

The asphalt patch over the sinkhole is in the northbound lane (far side of road). The southbound lane shows considerable damage too, just not bad enough to need emergency repairs. The muddy water in the foreground is not part of the road.

While out taking photos of the sinkhole, I chatted with a resident that lives on Grand; nice fellow. I asked his thoughts on the improvements (the multipurpose trail and bike lane). 

In addition to the sinkhole repair, the start of the bike lane was installed today. On the west side of Grand, you can see the multipurpose trail. It's nearly complete in that area.

He prefaced his words with, "Most people don't like change," which I agreed with.

He has lived there for sixteen years and really hasn't noted that many bike riders, or even horses, that use that part of Grand, but did note that now any trash that accumulates there will not have to be picked up by the locals. (Seems like a fair assumption, that the city will be maintaining the new trail).

Another angle of the sinkhole and the new bike lane.

He made a key point about what he sees happening with the new bike lane. Paraphrasing, he suggested that the additional eight feet of pavement will be used as a passing lane by speeders. 

Funny thing, that's what the bike lanes on Grand in Lakeland Village are used for during the early commuting hours (4:30am - 5:30am).

Yet another angle.

The other thing I noticed, not that we didn't already know it by driving down Grand, was how poor the road surface is. 

A great deal of the road is one continuous, shallow sink hole with year after year of patchwork repairs. 

From what I remember, from the various past meetings I've attended where this project has come up, there wasn't enough money in the budget to fully repave Grand Ave, though that is what Assistant City Manager Dan York would have preferred. 

This is from the March 2016 blog covering the multipurpose trails.
Click this link to read it.

Yes, yes, no one has any money for anything in Wildomar, we get that, but it's still fair to document the conditions. Which are similar on many other key roads throughout the city. 

A closer look at a sampling of the southbound lane.

Still, if it comes to the ballot, I'll be voting to repeal the SB1 gas tax imposed by dubious means last year. 

That's the one that promises (for the third time in about a dozen years) that the state legislature won't steal the road repair monies and use them for other purposes. Sorry, I don't believe them.

Addendum

Opinion about the roads

I almost forgot, some people need the obvious pointed out when it comes to the current road conditions of Wildomar? 

The roads were inherited from the county upon cityhood. 

Then there was a recession that choked the entire region for many years, which reduced the revenues for local municipalities. Couple that with the infamous theft of 20% of Wildomar's budget by the governor from 2011 to 2018, and it's a miracle that there are any roads here at all. 

Before anyone thinks the city leaders are the cause of the woeful road conditions, think again. I do have a solution, for those willing to bite the bullet.

Like I've said many times, we can have anything we want (brand new roads, fifty more cops) it just takes money —your money. 

Let me see a show of hands of property owners eager to have their taxes raised to pay for such things?

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"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."

– Albert Einstein

Wildomar Rap knows of a two additional ways to live your life. Third is as though everything is made of chocolate. The fourth is that nothing is made of chocolate... not even chocolate.