GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – The heat wave is making people sweat, but it’s also creating stress for some stretches of road.
“When we get these high heat, intense sun, and now humid conditions starting up – these are kind of a prime conditions for when we start to see these pavement buckles occurring,” said Northeast Region WisDOT Maintenance Supervisor Scott Nelson. “These slabs, as they expand where joints are, every 20-30 feet or so, basically they push up against each other. They push and push, and eventually the pressure gets high enough and all of a sudden, the pavement will buckle.”
Northeast Wisconsin has seen five pavement buckling incidents since the heat hit. The state as a whole has seen nearly forty. While things have been more intense in the southern part of the state, Nelson expects to see more incidents around the northeast region this week.
“Just keep an eye on the roadway ahead. You’ll see a whole different gamut of things, from just some pavement that’s kind of broken up, all the way to where you can almost see a tenting of some of the pavement ahead of you,” Nelson told WTAQ News. “If you do see that, it’s really important you call 911 right away. Let the dispatcher know exactly where you observed it, so we can get out there and protect it until we can get there to rehab that part of the pavement.”
Crews will block off the area to prevent traffic from potentially hitting the buckled area as quickly as possible.
“The immediacy is just trying to get that busted up concrete pavement out of there and get that remediated,” Nelson said. “Ultimately, what we end up doing is we cut that section of pavement out. Then depending where we’re at, the time of day, things of that nature, we may do a short term temporary fix with some asphalt, or we may go to a more permanent fix with some concrete.”
Traffic volume also influences the decision on how each particular instance will be addressed. As for those driving past areas that are being fixed, Nelson has a simple request.
“Try to move over and go slowly by these work zones. We’ve got a lot of people out there trying to get these things fixed,” Nelson said.
For more information about pavement buckling, head to the DOT’s website.
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