Charleston, WV – Brace yourselves, West Virginia. Potholes are coming!
Two weeks of frigid temperatures will be ending this week. With temperatures expected to climb into the 50s, the Mountain State can expect a major thaw.
But once the last of the snow melts, it will reveal a fresh new crop of potholes on West Virginia roads.
Potholes form when water seeps into cracks in the road. The water freezes and expands, making little cracks into bigger cracks, and bigger cracks into potholes. The more freeze-thaw cycles the road goes through, the bigger the chance of creating potholes.
Unfortunately, potholes mainly happen in the winter, when the West Virginia Division of Highways (WVDOH) is less able to deal with them, and when asphalt plants are shut down for annual maintenance.
To permanently patch a pothole, road crews must mill out the road around the existing hole. They then sweep out all the debris, lay a sticky layer of tack, pour in a fresh batch of steamy asphalt, and roll the pavement smooth. Properly done, the patch will last the life of the surrounding roadway.
But it just isn’t possible to get hot asphalt in the dead of winter. WVDOH road crews can use a sticky mixture of cold asphalt known as cold patch in the worst of the tire-busters, but cold patch is only a temporary solution.
So, like it or not, we’re stuck with potholes until the asphalt plants open up in the spring.
With work continuing in all 55 counties across the state, the West Virginia Division of Highways and the West Virginia Department of Transportation remind the public of the importance of keeping everyone safe in work zones by keeping “Heads up; phones down!”
