The winter takes a heavy toll on Boston, nobody can deny that. And while, yes, the lack of vitamin D emitted from the sun during the darkest and most frigid time of year tends to make Bay Staters a bit grumpier, it bodes even worse for the city’s various roadways; one Chicago native who recognized the detrimental effects of innumerable potholes took a more artistic approach to filling them in, and Boston ought to consider doing the same.
People have undertaken creative solutions to their city’s potholes. Look no further than New York City, Los Angeles, Montreal and Toronto. But according to Fast Co.Exist, Chi-town’s Jim Bachor has found a way to both express his artistic side while acting the civil servant.
He’s filling potholes with mosaics.
Granted Bachor has only tiled five potholes out of the 47,500 complaints throughout a metropolis (from December to March alone) whose city square mileage is some 38 percent larger than Boston’s, but he could be more effective here.
According to the City of Boston’s open sourced data, the Mayor’s 24-hour constituent hotline closed 13,583 pothole reports this year. I’m no mathematician, but I reckon Bachor’s stat column ratio would look better if he were playing in Boston.
“Mr. Bachor and his art are proof that even the coldest, harshest winter can not darken the spirits of Chicagoans,” The Chicago Department of Transportation told the Chicago Tribune. “But filling potholes is a task best left to the professionals and CDOT.”
Each pothole moasic, Bachor told Fast Co.Exist, runs him about $50 to make, but it’s unclear at this point how much Boston spends per pothole using its contemporary methods.
Still, combining public art and civic innovation in a practical way like this is Boston’s bread and butter. The New Urban Mechanics are constantly experimenting with apps and innovations that curtail the amount of damage to Boston’s infrastructure without hindering its residents, and Bachor’s proactivity exemplifies that same notion perfectly.
Image via Jim Bachor via Fast Co.Exist
