The days may be numbered for the recessed manholes on Jefferson Street in Butler that not only are a nuisance for drivers, but also a safety concern.

Jim Struzzi, a spokesman for District 10, state Department of Transportation, reported Friday that a meeting will be scheduled with officials of the Butler Area Sewer Authority in an attempt to reach agreement and set up a timetable for the manholes to be "raised."

Actually, the work would involve installation of risers to bring the manhole covers up to the level of the road surface. Those risers should have been put in place when the roadway was last resurfaced but, for whatever reason, that didn't happen.

Since then, motorists familiar with the recessed manholes have been dodging them or, in instances when they couldn't, experiencing the jolts of their vehicle's wheels encountering them. The vehicles of those unfamiliar with the situation have been less lucky in terms of avoiding what are tantamount to potholes.

Not only is the situation unfriendly to vehicle wheel alignments, but also is potentially dangerous as vehicles try to escape hitting them.

Motorists traveling through Butler have many deplorable city streets to test their vehicles' endurance. Jefferson Street, a major state thoroughfare through the city, shouldn't be one of them.

Hopefully nothing will sidetrack PennDOT's effort to get the situation corrected soon.