Cameron Montemayor
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — With nearly 40 years under his belt working in St. Joseph’s Street Maintenance Department, stalwart Steve Kendall has encountered nearly every street the city has to offer.
“As far as I can think,” he said with a grin. “Unless it’s a new street and it don’t need repairs yet.”
Kendall plays a key role for the department as a senior field supervisor, which includes overseeing and coordinating with pothole patchers who make their way across a city with 440 miles of streets with a nonstop schedule.
As summer-like temperatures continue to climb, so too does traffic volume and additional pressure on roadways, causing or worsening potholes.
“Right now they’re working on districts and potholes as they’re called in and as they come in on the website, we try to get them patched within 48 hours,” he said. “Send these guys out, and they’ll find them.”
As Midwest residents well know, potholes can range from small divots to larger openings as wide as a tire.
Helping crews is one the most proven pothole patching machines on the market, the FP5 Flameless Pothole Patcher, a massive machine with an electric heating system that helps mix and heat asphalt to 300 degrees without the use of propane.
“We can keep (asphalt) in there for like seven days. It’s got the heating coils .. it’s pretty much self-contained. It’s got rollers. Everything you’d need to do asphalt,” he said. “This is one of our newer trucks.”
Kendall, a St. Joseph native, has come a long way from his early years in the department when he first started off as a temp before earning his stripes at each stop along the way.
“I got hired on as a custodian. I did that for about month and then I become a laborer. And then, you know, I did every position all the way up,” he said. “Operator one, two, three, work leader, senior work leader and then supervisor.”
Kendall said patching is one of several keys step in the process, which begins with a supervisor taking a thorough inventory of every street in town — preferably twice — and then creating a list, which is sure to grow as residents file more reports.
Once patching is complete, a series of more extensive repairs are later carried out on area.
“Once you get caught up, it kind of smooths out a little bit. And then we start cutting the holes out and making it more of a permanent repair,” he said. “Right now, we’re just trying to keep our heads above water.”
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