Fed up with a massive pothole in his Los Angeles neighbourhood, Arnold Schwarzenegger decided he would take matters into his own hands and fill it with asphalt.
The only problem? The pothole wasn’t actually a pothole and he ended up covering over a pretty important service trench.
The 75-year-old actor posted to Twitter Tuesday, explaining why he decided to “terminate” the hole.
“I always say, let’s not complain, let’s do something about it. Here you go,” he wrote, sharing that the hole had been “screwing up cars and bicycles for weeks.”
In the video, a neighbour is seen rolling down her car window and shouting thanks at the action movie star.
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“You’re welcome,” says Schwarzenegger, decked out in work boots, a leather jacket and his signature Terminator glasses.
“You have to do it yourself. This is crazy. For three weeks I’ve been waiting for this hole to be closed,” he says.
However, a spokesperson for the city told NBC Los Angeles that the area is “not a pothole.”
The official told the news station that what Schwarzenegger filled in was actually a gas service trench that was dug for ongoing work being performed in the area by SoCal Gas. They said the work was supposed to be complete by the end of next month.
Despite being rebuked for his unauthorized road work, a rep for the former governor of California told People magazine that the city has left a lot to be desired when it comes to executing the gas work.
“The comment I saw from the city was that they would be filling the trench at the end of May,” the contact told People. “I’d be curious if they truly believe the best solution was to block off one direction of traffic for 2-3 months and force cars and bicyclists to drive the wrong way dangerously?”
“Honestly, the city is as bad at damage control as they are at performing basic services,” they added.
Unfortunately, the gas company will have to undo Schwarzenegger’s work and the trench will be re-dug so they can complete their project.
However, even if it was a true pothole that got filled, the Los Angeles Department of Public Works told ABC-7 that they would have had to re-do the actor’s work, anyway – that particular street is made of concrete, not the asphalt that Schwarzenegger used.
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