Arnold Schwarzenegger terminates neighborhood pothole

'This giant pothole has been screwing up cars and bicycles for weeks' says the movie star

Arnold Schwarzenegger fills neighborhood pothole
(Image credit: Twitter screengrab)

Potholes. We all hate them.  The sudden drop in the pavement is not only jarring, these potholes pose a serious danger for people on bikes and people in cars alike. 

Cities can often be slow to respond, especially after the unusually wet winter and spring wrecked roads across the country. 

Tired of waiting on the City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) to come repair the roads of his Pacific Palisades neighborhood, Arnold Schwarzenegger decided to take matters into his own, very strong, hands. 

The former California governor and movie star rounded up some manpower and, armed with some shovels and bags of Quikrete, started fixing the rather sizable pothole himself.  

"After the whole neighborhood has been upset about this giant pothole that’s been screwing up cars and bicycles for weeks, I went out with my team and fixed it," he wrote on Twitter.

"I always say, let’s not complain, let’s do something about it. Here you go."

In the video accompanying the tweet, the 75-year-old says he'd been waiting on the city to close the pothole for three weeks. "This is crazy," he says to a neighbor driving by. "You're welcome."

For those wondering if that DIY method will actually work, Quickrete says that as long as the Quikrete Commercial Grade High Performance Blacktop Repair is used, one can create a new and lasting driving surface

One news source reports that Schwarzenegger may have jumped the gun as the hole was there for a reason. 

The hole in the road surface was a "service trench that relates to active, permitted work being performed at the location by SoCal Gas, who expects the work to be completed by the end of May,” stated Elena Stern, a senior public information director for the department of public works in Los Angeles.

Schwarzenegger, who's frequently seen enjoying a bike ride, made the news earlier this year when he was involved in a car-bike collision

He'd been driving his SUV when a woman on a bike suddenly swerved into his lane. Schwarzenegger was unable to respond in time and the two collided. The woman sustained only minor injuries and charges were filed.  Schwarzenegger himself had either been returning from a bike ride or going on one, as he was carrying two bicycles on the SUV's hitchrack.

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Anne-Marije Rook
North American Editor

Cycling Weekly's North American Editor, Anne-Marije Rook is old school. She holds a degree in journalism and started out as a newspaper reporter — in print! She can even be seen bringing a pen and notepad to the press conference.

Originally from The Netherlands, she grew up a bike commuter and didn't find bike racing until her early twenties when living in Seattle, Washington. Strengthened by the many miles spent darting around Seattle's hilly streets on a steel single speed, Rook's progression in the sport was a quick one. As she competed at the elite level, her journalism career followed, and soon she became a full-time cycling journalist. She's now been a cycling journalist for 11 years.