Lakeview spring causes winter hazard

For as much as four years, Lakeview area residents along Numaga Pass Road have been complaining about water bubbling up in the middle of the road.

At least two area residents, Sandra Hartmann and Gail Madison, say the problem has been especially bad this year because the amount of water is increasing and cold weather has turned it into a dangerously slippery sheet of ice.

"There is a three-inch-thick sheet of ice covering both sides of the road," said Madison.

She said the situation is made more dangerous because the ice sheet is on a hill just a few yards from a blind corner, and cars coming up County Line Road can't see it until they're practically on the ice.

She and Hartman say they were told the culprit is a natural underground spring that is bubbling up through the cracked asphalt.

Carson Public Works Director Andrew Burnham said Thursday that the city is going to get rid of the ice using a grader. Madison confirmed 30 minutes later there was already a grader working to break up the ice.

Burnham said city crews would be up there de-icing the road daily until sometime next week, when they hope to permanently fix the problem. He said crews will probably install a French drain - a pipe beneath the roadway to carry the water away.

Hartman said the biggest danger she sees is to bicyclists who ride down Numaga Pass Road at high speed and can't see the ice until they crest a rise in the road just 20 feet from it.

But she said that just the other day, three cars nearly collided with each other at the spot.

City Manager Larry Werner said one of the problems with springs that suddenly appear is that they can disappear just as quickly.

"But it sounds like this one is getting worse, so they'll fix it," he said.