City Crews Concerned About High Numbers of Potholes During Spring
Due to the colder than normal January weather, where the average temperature was 7.2 degrees below the normal average January temperatures, frost levels in City of Madison streets have reached depths of 4.5 feet. This deep layer of frost in the streets is causing pavement to rise at expansion joints and where there is full depth pavement cracks.
These high numbers of frost heaves on both our concrete and blacktop streets could result in numerous potholes forming at areas where the frost has caused the pavement to heave and separate.
Potholes form when water, whether from melting snow, rain or frost thawing gets into the cracks in the pavement and cause the road base to shift and develop voids just under the pavement. When this occurs, the weight of vehicles causes the pavement to crumble causing potholes.
