SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. — With Spokane recently being named one of the worst cities in the nation for potholes, one local teenager is on a mission to improve road conditions.
Isabella Peterson is a sophomore at Spokane Valley Tech. Since her freshman year, the 16-year-old student has been working with a classmate on a mobile app that allows local drivers to report potholes.
“We got the idea because Spokane kind of has a reputation as the pothole city. We have a lot of bad road conditions,” Peterson explained.
Pothole GO! is the project that she hopes will be a solution for drivers upset about the hazards.
Peterson and her classmates are at that age where they’re starting to drive so this whole concept is about keeping the roads as safe as possible.
“So, I was really like I need to fix these because I don’t want to be driving by myself and get a flat tire or get in a car crash because of these potholes. I think it was just a big issue. I want to try and be safe,” Peterson said.
The app is designed for drivers to pinpoint where they come across an issue on a map. Each pothole that’s reported would be shared with the Washington State Department of Transportation.
“It’ll alert the DOT that it's been reported and then whatever potholes are the most reported, will be at the top of the DOT’s list to start repairing them,” Peterson said.
on Thursday, Spokane Valley Tech is having a trade show of innovation at the school. It’s an opportunity for the students like Peterson to present some of the projects they’ve been working on throughout the year or even longer.
Pothole GO! is an app that she’s been getting fine-tuned since her freshman year.
“We’re hoping to work with a professional app developer and then we would hopefully be able to publish it on the App Store and Google Play Store.”
A representative from WSDOT will also get a first-hand look at the app during the trade show.
An official date for the app to launch hasn’t been set quite yet, but Peterson believes they’re making progress and will be helping drivers soon.
“I feel like I may pursue a career in this in the future,” she said.
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