Those drivers who travel Reynolds and Jones streets downtown may be looking for the headlines announcing which country declared war on Augusta.

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The good news is, it's easier for sheriff's deputies to spot the drunken drivers on Reynolds - they're the ones who aren't weaving.

A number of roads in Richmond County are brutalizing cars with their bumps and holes and protruding manholes and, in some cases, weeks of unfinished work.

Reynolds Street is particularly painful between 13th and 15th streets. Jones Street, Reynolds' twin extension of River Watch Parkway, is under construction that has left jarring bumps and jagged pavement for some time. Other areas of the county are inspiring driver complaints too.

"They are in as bad (a) shape as I have ever seen," motorist Tony Powell wrote Thursday in a letter to the editor. "You ride down Broad Street, and it's an obstacle course just trying to miss holes and bumps that jar your bones."

It may not be much consolation, but those tasked with repairing the roads don't like it any more than we do. Mike Greene, the city's director of public services, is itching to fix them.

They're getting on it, he says, but it's taking time for several reasons. For one thing, Augusta commissioners only last month approved a $4.9 million resurfacing project. For another thing, no one wants major road work commenced just before the Masters Tournament.

For another thing, he says, this winter has been especially cold and wet, both exacerbating the damage to roadways and delaying the city's ability to fix them.

Another problem motorists won't much care for: Although some paving went on Friday on both Jones and Reynolds, probably the worst part of Reynolds, between 13th and 15th Streets, won't be totally redone anytime soon because of ongoing work at the nearby St. Sebastian flyway, Greene says. Reynolds is due to be resurfaced from 4th to 13th Streets sometime after the Masters, as are various other thoroughfares.

In many cases, "resurfacing" will include much more, such as base repair and sidewalk-and-curb retrofitting for Americans with Disabilities Act compliance.

Greene says the current $4.9 million in road projects is coming from Phase IV of the special purpose local option sales tax - but that such money is not allocated in Phase V. That means needy roads not touched up by Phase IV money will have to wait for Phase VI - unless commissioners find a way to "re-purpose" some money for it.

Maybe from the Defense Department?

Honk if you'd like them to.