Who is responsible for the road crews doing road repairs, laying tar for instance?

The reason I ask is that while driving back to work in Redwood Shores on Friday, there is a crew who has carved out a two foot wide trench, couple inches deep, and have poured fresh tar in it, and now everyone driving through the area, including myself have no opportunity to avoid driving through it.

Needless to say, now there is tar all over the side mirror, front fender and doors of my daily driver. Can't get it removed without professional help, and in the process of washing it there are now scratches from where some little hardened pieces scraped against the paint.

Does anyone know if the road crews are City of Redwood City, San Mateo County, or CalTrans? Trying to figure out where to start in order to file a complaint.

Is it unreasonable to expect that your car not be subjected to driving through freshly poured tar on the ground...I know it's not easy to get these repairs done in high-traffic areas, but a little common sense should be applied, imho.

 

Any complaints can be filed with CalTrans. It is a painfully slow process, and I wouldn't expect them to be very helpful.

 

File with CalTrans - friends have done this for bent wheels, and it does eventually work.

One of my biggest frustrations is seeing road work done poorly, which is almost nearly always is. Our tax dollars down the drain, again.

 

I wish I would have known this sooner. I had two bent wheels on the 928, and the only place it could have come from was a construction area on 880 North in Milpitas. At the time there was some pavement scraped off near Calaveras. At the end of that scraped-off section was a very sharp transition to the regular pavement. It was like this for weeks - both cars would hit the stoppers when I went over this... Only place where I could have bent those rims, and people told me there was nothing I could do.

 

From what I've heard, it's almost cheaper (given the time) to just get them repaired. I imagine they make you jump through hoops to get them to cover repairs.

 

It depends. Highways are definitely CalTrans. Surface streets could be the local municipality's crew, or could be CalTrans. Orange vests/work clothes are dead giveaways for CalTrans.

If on a city street, you should file claims with both CalTrans and the local government where it happened in. One or both will let you know whose responsibility it is.

I've heard from insurance adjusters who worked for a private carrier that handled CalTrans claims that the sum total of claims will often determine whether they accept responsibility or not. Windshield repairs are the prime example. If a cluster of claims is filed in a short period of time for windshield damage caused by a CalTrans repair site, reponsibility is pretty much accepted.

If you're a single claimant, you will likely have a much tougher time getting compensation.