MANITOWOC, WI (WTAQ) – Area temperatures continue to rise, and with it, comes an increase in reports of road buckling.
Just in the past 48-hours, there have been eight reports on I-43 alone, according to WisDOT.
“We, right now, have crews in Fond du Lac, Sheboygan and Manitowoc fixing pavement buckles,” says Mark Kantola, the communication manager for the Wisconsin DOT.
On Tuesday, crews worked their way up and down Interstate 43, repairing parts of the road that have been disturbed by the heat.
“Sometimes these pavement buckles they can get pretty big,” says Kantola. ” We’ve seen them to where they pop pavement up almost a foot or disintegrate pavement and leave concrete chunks in the road.”
Additionally, the buckling becomes more dangerous when it develops on highways.
“Imagine hitting a pavement buckle that’s only two to three inches high,” he says. “That’s a significant speed where, if anything impacts your driving lane, it can throw you off. It can cause you to run off the road. It can cause you to go in a ditch,” said Kantola.
Right now, the state is working with counties to take care of highway repairs.
Kantola says crews will be out there within hours to take care of any buckling.
“In Manitowoc, they’ve had crews out there fixing pavement buckles pretty much all day today. And, again, we expect more to pop up in the near future with these higher temperatures coming in,” he explains.
If you see pavement being pushed up or disintegrating because of the heat, call 911 and they will contact the appropriate authorities.
It might not seem like an emergency, but in the worst case, it could be deadly.
“It’s a life-threatening emergency for people who could possibly be hitting that,” he says.
