TUCSON, Ariz. — It's been a rocky road for Farrier Jason Summerkamp. He says the road leading to his home left him with a cracked rim, dented door, broken shackles and messed up trailer hitch. He also says the potholes have caused him to lose money as a farrier.
Nine On Your Side cameras spotted the numerous potholes that pepper the 12000 block of Magee Road and Sandario in unincorporated Pima County.
" The road is terrible, from my driveway to Sandario Road its .9 miles and there's 308 potholes total. About 180 are basketball size or bigger." Summerkamp said.
Summerkamp says he called the County 15 times for help. Now he wants them to repave the road or turn it back to a dirt road.
Nine On Your Side checked out the potholes on Magee Road and discovered there were many. Some of the potholes were old, new and others are all patched up.
Jim Cunningham with the Pima County Transportation Department tells Nine On Your Side that getting road repairs done has been tough because of a lack of funding.
"We've got in the County about 2,000 miles of roads and the large majority of those roads are failed. We have a limited amount of funds to go around and with the funds we have available we're barely able to keep our pavement condition countywide at its present level much less fix every road that we want to," Cunningham said.
Here's a break down of the $15 million budget available to the County:
• Some of it comes from Arizona state gas and license taxes
• $7.5 million goes to failed residential roads like Magee
• The other $7.5 million is to maintain high traffic roads in the county
Board members get $1.5 million for each district and the cost to fix the one mile stretch of Magee Road is about $250,000.
A 13 person advisory committee will determine if Magee will be fixed this year by the fall. The ultimate decision all comes down to road conditions and traffic volume.
County officials say a dirt road will cost more than repaving it. As for pot hole repairs, the cost is about $20 to $40 each.
Bottom line is it will take a few years to get Magee road fixed up.
"They keep slapping down patch making it worse. Overlay it, do something, just fix it," Summerkamp said.
