Can You Find a Pothole Bigger Than This One on North Marine Drive?

LOCATION: North Marine Drive near the Kelley Point Park turnoff

SUBMITTED BY: Jim Middaugh

HOW HE FOUND IT: Biking one of his favorite routes.

Jim Middaugh has seen plenty of potholes up close. He’s an avid cyclist, spending hours riding—and even racing—around Portland’s streets. He’s on Portland’s Bicycle Advisory Committee and is a former board member of The Street Trust.

One of Middaugh’s go-to rides for cold days is what he calls the Kelley Point Loop, a flat route that goes along Marine Drive to Kelley Point Park, a greenspace that sits at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, northwest of the Port of Portland freight terminals. Flat rides are good for cold days because you don’t have to go downhill and freeze, he says.

A few weeks ago, Middaugh was riding on Marine Drive when he spotted a monster pothole. He stopped to take a picture, and a fellow rider asked if he had hit it. Thankfully, he hadn’t.

Much of the traffic on the far reaches of Marine Drive is trucks picking up and unloading at the port and at freight warehouses. And Middaugh isn’t alone: There are lots of cyclists. While the trucks might be fine trundling over the abscess he found on Marine Drive, bikes surely wouldn’t.

“I was shocked by the size,” Middaugh says. “If you hit it on your bike, you would go down.”

Middaugh’s find is the last one we’ll feature before we publish our Hole Patrol bracket and pick a winner next week. Even if your hole wasn’t featured, you have a chance to win. Send in your final nominees this week.

CURRENT STATUS: Still lurking along the docks, stalking cyclists.

This pothole now advances to the Hole Patrol Winner’s Bracket. Each week through the end of April, WW will select another reader-submitted pothole to move into the Winner’s Bracket, where it will be evaluated by our crack team of asphalt researchers using a proprietary methodology (we’ll probably measure it). The person who submits the city’s biggest pothole will receive a splendid prize. Send your entries to newstips@wweek.com.