Pothole-riddled roads prove costly for fed-up Ipswich residents

“Halfway up to my knee”: Drivers are facing steep damage bills after hitting potholes along rain-affected Ipswich roads, having to cough up thousands.

Ipswich roads have been riddled with potholes after the recent floods, and many residents are paying a high price.

Patty Keyworth’s quick trip to Krispy Kremes in her pyjamas last weekend ended up costing her $1500.

When driving through the rain on Sunday night to get doughnuts for her son, she hit a pothole on Redbank Plains Road.

“I could see all these cars pulled across to the side of the road – and I thought ‘I wonder what’s going on?’ Then it was too late; I hit it – and I hit it really hard,” she recounted.

After Ms Keyworth hit the pothole, she realised why so many cars were pulled over.

“I could put my whole foot in [the pothole] and it would have come halfway up to my knee,” she recounted.

She said the Redbank Plains Road was particularly dangerous — especially in the rain — because there’s limited street lighting.

“You can’t see, and when you hit the pothole, it veers your car over to the other side of the road because you hit it so hard because you’re doing 70km/h …

“Lucky there were no cars because I would’ve clipped the car coming the other way.”

Pothole on Redbank Plains Road on Monday night, after the council’s repairs earlier that day. May 25 2020. Picture: Reg KL

Ms Keyworth said she decided to keep driving after she hit the pothole because there was nowhere to park.

“I thought maybe I didn’t do any damage,” she said.

However, she said as she pulled right at the traffic lights, the car was shaking and she pulled into the closest service station.

The rim of one of her tyres had buckled.

“I didn’t know what to do – the only time I never took my phone with me, so I had no help,” Ms Keyworth recounted.

She said there were others at the service station who had also hit potholes, and they helped her change her tyre for a temporary one.

Ms Keyworth later posted on Facebook, saying “I want to thank them very much as I was stranded”.

“I hit the same holes when we had the last floods,” commented one Facebook user.

“Not the first time it’s happened — last time there was 20 cars on the side of the road.”

When Ms Keyworth went to replace the tyre, she found that because of the make and age of her car, she couldn’t buy just one tyre, but had to purchase four – totalling a whopping $1500.

Catherine van de Klashorst said she lost a tyre to a pothole on Redbank Plains Road the following day.

“I was driving – swerving as I have done for the last couple of weeks — trying to get to work with the amount of potholes,” she recounted.

“I only have a small car … so I usually follow everyone else and we’re all doing the swerving thing, and it was just a continuous number of potholes before the Greenwood Village turn-off.

“Missing one pothole, there was nowhere else to go but into this other one which was quite huge … I lost a tyre – had slight rim damage.”

She said the pothole was filled with water, so she couldn’t tell it was a pothole until she drove over it.

“Straight after me a car did the same thing, but they lost their whole rim and everything.”

Ms van de Klashorst said she reported the pothole to Ipswich City Council while she was waiting for RACQ, and said they sent out someone to fix the road “very quickly” afterwards.

“It’s been filled up, but with the amount of trucks we have on that road and the rain — they’re not being repaired well enough to last a truck going over it. The gravel just comes up within the first rain,” she said.

“There are patches all along [Redbank Plains Road] that they repaired on Monday, but as soon as you get to Blackstone Road, they’re there again.”

Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding said “repairs to roads damaged during the extended wet season are ongoing, with more work needed in the coming weeks and months”.

“Ipswich City Council has spent a total of $4.24 million on flood recovery efforts from 28 February up to 19 May, over half of that in emergency works on roads, paths, bridges, drains, parks and buildings.

“Following the most recent heavy rain in May, council crews fixed a further 210 potholes with 100t of asphalt in just over a week,” she said.

“It is a testament to council’s work crews, who’ve been working around the clock, that we’ve been able to get so many roads back open and operational, as well as patching so many potholes and road hazards in such a short time frame.

“I’m immensely proud of the work they’ve done, and continue to do, to make sure our city’s road network is back online and safe for all road users.”

Ms van de Klashorst said she was in the process of putting through a claim with the Ipswich City Council, but that it was difficult without a photo of the actual pothole.

She said Redbank Plains Road was too muddy and dangerous – particularly at night – to park on and photograph.

Ms Hayworth said she had contacted the Ipswich City Council about reimbursement but “they said they don’t reimburse people with their tyres and mags for potholes”.

Another Redbank Plains resident shared their similar experience on Facebook, saying “I paid $1600 for new tyres and rims due to a pothole near the bridge there and [Ipswich] council didn’t pay”.

Ms Keyworth said she’d had discussions with other residents about their dissatisfaction with the council’s response.

“They’ve filled [the potholes] up, but when it rains again, it washed out,” she explained.

“They’re only doing a Band-Aid fix — and the holes are just getting bigger and bigger.”

Many residents have taken to Facebook to warn others about potholes across Ipswich – and Redbank Plains appears to be a repeat offender.

Facebook user Reg KL said “the whole of Redbank Plains is swiss cheese and all they do is repair over repair until it’s like driving on gravel.”

Ash Jenn commented that a pothole had reopened on the corner of School Road, Redbank Plains — just days after being filled.

“I travel [Redbank Plains Road] multiple times a week, the potholes get filled in one day and then the next are washed out again,” commented another Facebook user.

Ms van de Klashorst said that “with the amount of rain we have had, I think it’s understandable that we’re going to have potholes … they’re still not being repaired quick enough, and that’s an issue that should be covered by the council.”

Ms Keyworth, who said she rarely drives if she can help it anyway, said she’s “not gonna travel that road again now”.

The Ipswich City Council has outlined their $26 million road maintenance and rehabilitation budget for 2021-22 — including allocations to fill more than 5000 potholes, repair more than 1500km of sealed roads, maintain about 260km of gravel roads and maintain 26,000 street-light across the region.

They encourage residents to report any urgent road maintenances issues such as large potholes on 07 3810 6666 and make other claims through their website.