[ba] road repair trench = tire damage

[Ti Kan]

Hi all,

Last Tuesday night I was driving in my S4, westbound on Central
Expressway in Sunnyvale where there is some road work between Fair Oaks
and Mathilda Aves., they had dug a series of open trenches across the
whole width of the road.  I wasn't aware of them until I came upon
the first (and worst) one which caused a violent tire crash.
Other than reduced speed signs (normal 50mph, now 40mph), the
lanes were open to traffic and the trenches did not have any covering.

The car seemed to drive fine afterwards so I didn't pay too much
attention until a couple days later, I discovered a pronounced
bulge on the sidewall of my left front tire.  I can't see any
obvious signs of damage on the other tires.  I'm surprised that
my Avus wheels took that without bending.

I went back to the location yesterday and found that they had paved
over the trenches.  I was going to take some photos but not sure
if it's going to be any help now.

These are Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 235/40R18 Y tires which are around
$250 each (Tire Rack price) after shipping/mounting/balancing, and
I am probably looking at replacing the front pair at minimum, so it's
not exactly pocket change.  I don't have road hazard warranty on
the tires, so I am looking at possible options.

So, does anyone have any experience or knowledge about whether I could
file a claim on the government?  Central Expressway is a Santa Clara
County highway, but I didn't find anything relevant on their website.
Googling didn't yield anything specific to Santa Clara either.

Any ideas are welcome.

-Ti