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Spring may bring potholes, but summer has its own road problems

large dump truck with orange construction sign stating Road Work Ahead
Tana Weingartner
/
WVXU
The Ohio Department of Transportation will spend $2.8 billion on 950 road and bridge projects statewide this construction season.

Drivers may have noticed a bumpier ride in some places recently. The summer heat is taking its toll on area roads. An ODOT spokeswoman says you can blame Mother Nature.

District 8’s Kathleen Fuller says asphalt will expand in hot weather, and if the heat lasts, it will push up, creating a little ridge.

“This summer has been so hot, and in long stretches,” she says. “It happens. It’s kind of like potholes. You don’t always know when you’re going to get a pothole. You know kind of what’s going to cause it, but you don’t know when.”

She says the fix is relatively simple.

“Our crews will grind the pavement back down, and depending on how big it is, sometimes they can cut it back out and do what’s called a slot paving,” she says. “Basically, it connects it back. It’s just paving in between that, getting that buckle out, they can dig it out and repave.”

Fuller says the quality of the repair may be intense, or a little more temporary.

“If we’re not going to be resurfacing it for several years, then they might want to do a much bigger repair, which is to cut out the damaged section and replace it with new asphalt.”

She says that depends on how much has buckled and the next scheduled resurfacing.

Fuller says concrete can handle the heat better, but projects using it take longer.

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Bill has been with WVXU since 2014. He started his radio career as a disc jockey in 1990. In 1994, he made the jump into journalism and has been reporting and delivering news on the radio ever since.