If my car could talk, I bet she would have a lot to say. I’m sure she would thank me for lots of things, such as cleaning her, keeping her in good mechanical health and always quenching her enormous 1970-thirst for premium unleaded – well, actually, she would thank my parents for that one. But she’d have her complaints, too. Maybe I haven’t always exactly driven her “soft,” and she might still be bitter about that scuffle with a tree, but her biggest gripe would by far be the fact that I brought her to school and made her traverse the campus roads.

I grip the steering wheel a little tighter with every pothole, thinking that somehow, it helps decrease the vehicle’s bucking and groaning. A grimace crosses my face every time the road dips dramatically, leaving me sweating over whether or not I’m going to peel off one of my mufflers, or worse, the oil pan. Thankfully, no such catastrophe has yet occurred, but the fact remains that many of the roads on campus are, to make an understatement, less than perfect.

We all know the trouble spots. The intersection of Lucinda Avenue and Annie Glidden Road is getting ugly, especially to the west, toward Douglas Hall. Also, most of the pavement surrounding Douglas, Lincoln and Grant halls is about as smooth as driving your car through a freshly harvested cornfield. Sections of far east campus are showing their share of breakdown, as well.

Though I’m sure we’ll see many potholes filled this spring, that’s only a temporary solution. Through the next year, heavy traffic will continue, and winter will once again expand moisture in the roads, causing more cracks and pavement breakdown. That’s not to mention the heavy layer of salt deposited every winter, which does its part to weaken the streets. These roads need a serious overhaul.

Don’t misunderstand me; it’s not like the Grounds Department is sitting around, doing nothing. A lot of money, time and pavement has been poured into recent improvements for the College Avenue area, as well as far west campus, but money is limited. Much of the funding for these improvement projects comes from the Illinois Board of Higher Education. In 2004, when NIU requested more than $100 million for Stevens Building, road and other miscellaneous repairs, the IBHE granted $17.6 million.

At this time, road repair plans for spring and summer of this year have not been released. Hopefully, a good amount of work will be put into west campus, close to the dorms and Annie Glidden, where traffic is very heavy, rather than the far west end. There is currently a badly torn-up section of road blocked off between the West Heating Plant and Lincoln Hall, which is a promising sign that it will receive some attention. But, more than that 50-yard stretch needs work.

I hope the university does something soon, or you can expect to see miscellaneous car parts littering the streets where the potholes have finally gotten the better of my car. Then, she’ll be even more upset with me.