Portland's streets take a pounding. Day in, day out, they carry untold thousands of bikes, cars, vans, buses, firetrucks and the occasional naked unicyclist. Throw in buckets of rain, tons of snow, sheets of ice, and blistering heat, and it adds up to serious wear and tear. The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) maintains 1,896 lane miles of busy streets and another 2,982 lane miles of neighborhood streets – equivalent to driving from Portland to Detroit and back. Keeping all that pavement in decent shape takes people like maintenance supervisor Stacey Lauer. Last week we caught up with her and the crew at the intersection of East Burnside and 90th Avenue, where they were repaving a damaged section of roadway. Over the roar of grinders and the whiff of hot tar, she filled us in on her work.
How long have you worked for the City? It's 25 years. I spent 18 with the Parks bureau and the last 7 here with PBOT. I started out as a utility worker in Delta Park. Learned to drive the step van, cleaned the gutters at Pittock Mansion, painted the pools, worked on the roofs, helped put up the Christmas tree in Pioneer Square. Then I moved to the heavy equipment shop, learned to drive dump trucks. I was a heavy-equipment crew leader and then became a supervisor.
What drew you to this line of work? My Dad. He owned an excavation company and I used to ride in the dump trucks with him as a little girl. When I got older, I worked for him during the summertime and at GI Joe's (the retail store) in the winter. I laid pipe, ran a steamroller, demolished houses. I used to complain that he didn't have enough work for me. He said, "If you want to work full time all year long, go get a job with the City." So I did.
Do the road crews work year-round? Absolutely. Our crews do potholes, sinkholes, base repair, ADA work, utility pavebacks, landslides, snow and ice. We also scout parade routes -- we scout the route before the event and make sure we do safety fixes.
How many potholes have you fixed in your career? Oh gosh, I can’t count them. I know the City filled about 15,000 potholes last year. Our goal is to fill them within 30 days of getting the report. Then we go back and grind them out to make a permanent fix, like we’re doing today.
How does that work? Every morning we get into work and review our priority list. We have about 100 pothole reports right now. So there are a lot of factors that go into the list. We focus on safety. We don't want people to get hurt. Is the pothole on Marine Drive? I'm going to need a flagging crew to make sure that the job site is safe. Is this a street that the City maintains? There are some streets we don't. What people think are potholes aren't always just potholes. Sometimes it’s a sinkhole, which could indicate an underground pipe is broken. Or if tree roots are causing the damage, it’s more complicated. If you cut the roots of a heritage tree, you might hurt the tree. Then there are alligators...
Alligators? In Portland? That’s what we call a rough section of pavement, when it looks like the skin of an alligator. See? (She points to a bumpy, pockmarked stretch of asphalt.) It requires a different type of repair. We’ll have to grind that out. So when we get a report, someone goes out, checks it out, takes pictures, paints markings, that kind of thing. We make a plan. Then the crew shows up at six in the morning. We'll set up a safety plan. Determine the size of the cut. Call the asphalt plant and order up how much mix we'll need. Prep the site and go to work.
Do we need more women in the trades? Yes! It's a non-traditional role, right? It's very exciting to go and talk to people about getting into this field. I would not be here today without the women who mentored me when I was just starting out. So I try to pay that forward. I’m active in Oregon Tradeswomen, Women in Transportation, and the American Public Works Association.
What do you like most about your work? I love being outdoors and I love being in the field. I love the people I work with. I'm not stuck in the office all day. I love fixing things and knowing that my work makes a difference in people’s lives. I want to leave a legacy and set up the next generation for success.
What do you like most about Portland? I grew up in Gresham, I've lived here my whole life. I love the food carts, the mountains, the beach, the gorge. I love being out here and working for my community.
Resources for women in construction