Jim Bachor pothole mosaic in Chicago

Jim Bachor fills potholes in Chicago with mosaics like this one, an homage to the city's iconic flag. The number is a playful jab at the number of potholes citywide.

(Photo Courtesy: Kate Sierzputowski )

Potholes: You drive over them at your car's peril, skillfully dodge them on bicycles, or call Portland's pothole hotline pleading city workers to take care of them.



But in Chicago, one man spends hours turning the asphalt eyesores into artful mosaics. The art pieces typically pay homage to the Second City's iconic flag.



Over at Hyperallergic, Kate Sierzputowski introduced readers to Jim Bachor, the Northwest Chicago man behind a series of "personal public-works" projects that started cropping up around Chicago last summer.



According to the piece, Bachor uses Murano glass and materials running about $50 to make each mosaic.



Sierzputowski writes:

Bachor riffs on the red, white, and blue flag by filling its center with either the word "POTHOLE" or a random serial number. "The fake serial numbers are a joke, a comment on the number of potholes there actually are in Chicago," said Bachor.



The Chicago Transit Authority (which operates the city's famed mass transit system) recently gave Bachor a commission to continue making the pieces. Why mosaics?

Mosaics are one of the few techniques that can really survive." Bachor has experimented with different materials and locations to ensure that his mosaic pothole covers survive as best as possible: he's learned that the pieces can't be too large and must be situated far away from other holes; his first piece was nearly swallowed by a neighboring pothole. Even with planning, the mosaics are ultimately at the mercy of unpredictability.



Check out the full story over at Hyperallergic.

Meanwhile here in Portland, Mayor Charlie Hales and Commissioner Steve Novick continue to be on the front lines pushing for more funding to address the Rose City's road woes.



As The Oregonian reported recently, the city's roads are bad and getting worse.

According to Portland Bureau of Transportation officials: with bad roads come potholes.



"Potholes are a sign of a road that is in really poor condition," said Diane Dulken, PBOT spokeswoman. More than half of neighborhood streets are in poor or very poor condition, according to the city's figures (some 54 percent this year), and the figures for heavily trafficked streets aren't much better.

The intersection of Northeast Going Street and 6th Avenue was painted by volunteers as part of a Village Building Convergence project. The designed came from Envirovillage, King neighborhood children and residents and Northeast Portland artist Molly Dougherty (The Oregonian)

But Dulken said Chicago's extreme weather variances, those brutally cold winters and humid summers, provide the perfect situation for potholes to form. Cracks in the streets expand and contract under extreme weather conditions, she said.

Portland's road woes are "a slow motion crisis," she added, stressing the importance of investing in preventative maintenance.



So would PBOT sign off on an art project for potholes similar to Bachor's?



Dulken said city officials would sure listen. "We'd take a look at anyone's proposal," she said.



Portlanders are "already channeling their artistic spirit" Dulken said, citing painted intersections on certain neighborhood streets throughout the city. "It's already happening," she said.



Just last year, city workers filled 8,267 potholes, according to the most recent asset and condition report. More than one-third of those fixes came thanks to calls to the city's pothole hotline.



-- Andrew Theen