Buckling Pavement

I noticed some maintenance workers removing a section of buckled pavement on the way home. They had one lane almost finished, which left the other lane. This lane still had a section paving that buckled upward about four inches. This is bad, but I've seen worse.

Years ago, while working on a highway patch job, we received a call one Sunday evening requesting immediate mobilization on the project. We hadn't planned on working, but a section of paving buckled, which cause the pavement to heave the full thickness on the downstream side. If this had been the upstream side, cars would have sailed over the "ramp" and the damage would have been minimal. Unfortunately, this wasn't the situation and the pavement buckled under the car of a young woman. The result was the car flipped and she was killed by the accident.

What causes this? Heat. It's been over 100 degrees for the last two afternoons. The pavement expands and eventually finds a weak spot to relieve the pressure. Sometimes it only cause the pavement to become uneven. Others can be catastrophic, like the wreck I described above. One of the worst I've ever seen was where the pavement shattered and threw huge pieces of concrete over a large area. I missed the event, but saw the aftermath as people slowly drove through the rubble.

So, it's hot and there will be more of this to come. Watch as you drive and pay attention to the bumps in the pavement. The small ones you've been traveling over may become substantially larger. All it takes is a hot summer day.