Whitney Carrasco tries to arrive at school early every day. Shedoesn't want to be the first person in class; she hopes to avoidthe 2-foot by 3-foot pothole that encompasses a portion of thesecond row in the Central Avenue parking lot.
"It's been there several weeks, and today I think I bottomed outmy car in it," said Carrasco, a senior economics major. "It'sgetting worse and worse."
Carrasco said the only way to avoid driving over the pothole isto wait for opposing cars to pass, which can take a while duringhigh-traffic periods between classes.
"You can see several different layers of the road," Carrascosaid.
She is not the only student angry over the pitted parkinglot.
J. Bradley Stevens, a senior criminal justice major, said he hasstopped parking in the Central lot because of the potholes.
"I don't want to crash my car in those potholes," he said."They're just insurance claims waiting to happen."
This is not the first time this particular pothole has been aproblem, according to Drew Schmitz, communications specialist forthe Physical Plant.
"It has been filled before, but I think what may be happening isthat water is wearing the dirt away under the asphalt," hesaid.
The lack of parking options on campus and the damage Carrascothinks the pothole may have caused to her car are reasons why thisproblem bothers her, she said.
"It seems like they would pay a lot more attention to fixingthings like that," Carrasco said. "First they take away ourparking. You'd think they would at least fix what we've got."
To get a pothole repaired, Parking Services must request therepairs from the Physical Plant, which then decides how to proceedwith the repairs.
"We are fixing it," said Calvin Strong, director of Landscapingand Custodial Services with the Physical Plant.
"We're going to have to dig up the area around the pothole tofind out what's wrong and then fix it," Strong said. "If we don'tget it fixed this weekend, then we will the next."
