In Iowa, the dilemma is a Dallas County road imbedded with thousands of roofing nails, accidentally left in the paving material when it was recycled from roofing shingles. The nails, which remained during the grinding process due to a failed magnet, have resulted in 800 angry drivers seeking reimbursements for their flat tires--an outlay of roughly $12,000 for the county. No plans to replace the faulty paving material are yet in the works.
In Colville, Washington, the problem isn't flat tires--it's shattered windshields. A faulty paving project caused a chip-seal coating to unravel on a 13-mile stretch of a county road. An estimated 140 windshields have cracked since the unraveling began last fall. About 90 people have submitted claims. This past August, a district court judge awarded a resident $231 for his busted windshield, opening the door to the possibility of a stream of refunds the city will have to pay.
The judge claimed that the county, which did the paving in September, failed to follow state guidelines restricting paving dates to before August 15. The reason for the cutoff date: Cooler temperatures prevent paving oil from curing properly--just as the Colville mishap demonstrated.
The unraveling of the chip-seal has stopped, and local officials plan to rebuild the road next summer.
