My Oneonta Road Rant: Why Is West Street Always The Worst?

I am not a complainer, in fact, I always try to be as positive as I can be. I would rather lift others around me up than drag them down by whining about things but there's one issue in Oneonta that I can't keep quiet about any longer because I just don't get it.

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Over the years, there is one street in the city that is NEVER a smooth ride - quite the opposite in fact. I'm talking about West Street, specifically the stretch between Chestnut St. and the entrance to the SUNY Oneonta campus. Considering there are two colleges with entrances off of this street, it must be one of the most traveled roads in the city.

I understand that with that amount of traffic, it's going to take its toll with wear and tear to the surface of the street. Of course factor into that our harsh winters with road salt and plowing doing their fair share of damage to the street, I understand how the street deteriorates. My question is, why isn't this street that is arguably one of the most highly traveled roads in Oneonta, so poorly maintained? The worst section is between Chestnut St. and Center St. and it's HORRIBLE! I try to avoid this street as often as possible but sometimes, it's the quickest route to where I want to go so I drive on it. I regret it every time. I've driven on dirt roads better than this street. You'll see what I'm talking about below but this photo doesn't show how bumpy the ride is, but if gives you a sense of the fissures up and down the street.

I can't remember the last time West St. got repaved. Every once in a few years, road crews will do a patch job to fill in potholes but that doesn't fix the multitude of horizontal fissures in the road that hit my tires in the worst way and bounce me all around. I always feel like my car is coming apart when I travel West Street.

To those in charge of Oneonta's infrastructure, yes, I know you are busy, but PLEASE put West Street repaving at the top of your priority list before we all lose our minds after traveling down horrible West Street. And here's something to keep in mind...do we really want our out-of-town families who are bringing their kids to college, to travel down such a bad street, all the while thinking to themselves, "Really? If this is Oneonta, I'm not impressed!" In my opinion, Oneonta is waaaay better than that.