If you’ve lived in Michigan for any period of time, you know this catchphrase pretty well: Freeze/thaw. Freeze/thaw. Repeat for nearly six months of the year.
And while this year’s winter may not seem particularly mild, having extremes of warmth and then cold can result in something many Michigan residents know all too well: Potholes. This year, there are better-than-usual chances that potholes will trouble many Michigan motorists, the state warns.
According to the Michigan Department of Transportation, with each sustained warm-up, roads that have been frozen begin to thaw from the surface downward. That is how the melting snow and ice saturate the ground.
The roadbed, softened by trapped moisture beneath the pavement, is more susceptible to damage during every significant thaw. A sustained thaw typically happens only once a year in the spring but not this year. Continuous temperatures above and below freezing have created several freeze-thaw cycles, which also create potholes.
“It’s normal to get a few days throughout the winter that are warmer than usual, but this year has been unusually sporadic,” State Transportation Director Kirk T. Steudle said in a statement. “Extreme temperature fluctuations create many issues for road maintenance.”
Potholes are most prevalent during freeze/thaw cycles, when water penetrates the pavement surface and refreezes, pushing the pavement up. Vehicles then push the pavement back down, breaking it and starting a pothole.
“The quicker we know about where potholes are forming, the sooner we can get them patched,” Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) Engineer of Operations Mark Geib said in a statement. “Patching them won’t last, but will help get us through until warmer temperatures are sustained.”
If you spot a pothole on an I-, US- or M-route, you can report it to the MDOT Pothole Hotline at 888-296-4546, by going online to MDOT’s “Report a Pothole” website at https://goo.gl/x6Rgo9, or by calling your local MDOT Transportation Service Center (TSC) or region office.
Michigan’s milder winter puts drivers in danger of pothole problems added by TheHUB on
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