KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Car owners who've hit potholes wish for a smooth ride up State Line Road in Kansas City, Missouri.
Dr. Andrew Godwin didn't think he would spend part of his Wednesday playing mechanic.
"I could tell immediately I was driving on just three tires," Godwin said.
He says the fourth one split open after hitting a pothole at State Line Road and west 55th Street on his way to work.
"You could feel that you no longer had very good control of it, it would slide a little bit more," Godwin said.
Shops are telling Godwin it's going to be at least a week before he can get a new tire on his 2008 Mazda Miata.
As he deals with the inconvenience, he wishes State Line Road would be a consistent smooth ride.
"You can't avoid the potholes. They're just always there," Godwin said. "There seems to always be construction, they always seem to be doing something digging somewhere."
Given its unique location, State Line Road is a shared responsibility between KCMO and the neighboring cities on the Kansas side.
KCMO Public Works wrote in a statement Wednesday there's no differentiation on ownership between one lane or the other:
The City of Kansas City, Missouri has an agreement with the City of Prairie Village from 71st to 75th streets. In this agreement the City of KCMO will reimburse Prairie Village for resurfacing work along this section of roadway. We are also working on an agreement from 75th to 79th Streets.
We worked with the Cities of Westwood and Westwood Hills on similar agreements for State Line Road. In Leawood we also have an agreement between Carondelet Drive to Watts Mill Creek Bridge south of 103rd Street.
Resurfacing work is happening across the city six days a week. Our street preservation team is doing more road resurfacing work than ever before, and at a faster pace than the city has ever seen.
Since August of 2021, the City has resurfaced nearly 350 lane miles and used more than 268,000 tons of asphalt to make Kansas City streets smoother. The City’s new, aggressive street-resurfacing plan aims for at least 300 lane miles to be resurfaced annually, more than 2.5 times the historic amount.
Since it is a joint project State Line Road is not included on our street resurfacing map in terms of projects along the road. You can see some resurfacing projects at intersections on the corridor. For any residents wondering about resurfacing work in their neighborhoods, they can view the new 2021-2022 map, see where work is planned and track our progress at KCMO.gov/streetpreservation.
According to Justin Carroll, the assistant city administrator for Mission Hills, there are plans to repave their portion of the roadway from Shawnee Mission Parkway to south of 70th Terrace.
"Currently, Mission Hills has identified this entire stretch to be repaved in 2027 as part of our Five Year Capital Improvement Program," Carroll said in an email. "However, we have had some very preliminary conversations about moving that timeline up given the conditions of the road but no decisions have been made at this time."
Katherine Stewart had to replace one of her tires two weeks ago after rolling over a pothole on State Line Road.
"If you're not making it a priority to resurface or to rebuild the route, at least try to fill the hole up," Stewart said.
If you hit a pothole in KCMO, you can submit a claim with the city that they can review. Also report it to 311.
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