WASHINGTON — D.C. area motorists have complained that the roads are a mess after utility companies come in to work on their neighborhoods. Sure, the power’s back on and the water’s flowing again, but as a result, some drivers need to get their tires realigned.
At the headquarters of the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, lawmakers from Prince George’s and Montgomery counties were united in their message to the agency: Do a better job of patching the roads when your work is done.
Prince George’s County councilwoman Mary Lehman said she’d give the WSSC “a failing grade” for its road repairs, but lumped Pepco, Washington Gas and BGE into the mix as well.
“It really frustrates, I would say infuriates my residents to have their roads turned up that way,” Lehman said.
Montgomery County councilman Roger Berliner agreed.
Referring to WSSC’s performance on patching roads, he said “they’ve done it so badly for so long.” His solution: leave the repairs to Montgomery County officials. The county could perform the fixes and bill WSSC for the work, Berliner says.
Lehman is also working on the issue; she and Prince George’s County councilwoman Andrea Harrison are developing a bill to require higher standards for road work by utilities after repairs are done.
“We both feel very strongly that WSSC has failed on this front for many years and needs to do better,” Lehman says.
WSSC General Manager Carla Reid listened attentively to the criticism from members of the two county committees.
“I think that it’s fair and I think they’re right in that we do well in our core business” of supplying safe drinking water, but when it came to repairing roadways after utility work is done, “there are areas that are not our core business that we could improve upon.”
The WSSC provides water to 1.8 million residents in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. The bi-county agency has three commissioners from each county.
