Overgrown weeds. Damaged guardrails. Missing manhole covers. Busted traffic lights. Broken water mains. Trash everyone. Potholes.

Hundreds of complaints have been filed by Bergen and Passiac County motorists about the condition of North Jersey’s roads with the DOT in the first seven months of the year, records show.

One man put in a complaint to the governor about grass so high that smaller cars cannot be seen until it is too late.

It seems as if transportation officials acknowledge there is a problem, primarily due to the shrinking resources in the most congested state in the nation.

In the 1980s, the agency had work crews made up of 15 to 18 people who would tackle garbage, potholes, graffiti and other maintenance issues on the state roads. Today the agency has roughly 60 maintenance crews with just 6 or 7 people in each.

Each crew covers an area of 50 to 70 miles, including ramps and shoulders. The crews are assigned to certain stretches of road, which they visit about every two weeks.

Carter said crews are regularly dispatched to areas if there is an emergency issue like an object in a lane that creates a danger to moving traffic.

The crews have to multitask, said Joe Dee, spokesman for the DOT. Is this a legitimate reason for small cars and motorists to be at risk?

It seems as if the state needs to employ more people to increase the size of their maintenance crews. There’s a lot of ground to be covered and not enough bodies to do the work necessary to keep our roads safe.

How many complaints will it take before the issue is addressed in an effective manner?

Only time will tell.

-Orly