BUMP, BUMP, BUMP: That time of year again
Spring may officially begin Saturday but another season already reared its ugly head a couple weeks ago.
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It's pothole time, the season of bumpy car rides and dodging rain puddles. City street maintenance workers from Brainerd and Baxter, as well as Crow Wing County and MnDOT road crews, have been combating potholes for the past two weeks.
"They've been out pretty much everyday for the last week," Jesse Freihammer, Brainerd assistant city engineer, said of Brainerd street maintenance crews. "The rain keeps washing them out as quickly as we repair them."
Trevor Walter, Baxter public works director, said two city maintenance staff members go out in search of potholes to fill every morning and the city also receives calls from the public notifying them of deteriorating road conditions.
A vehicle maneuvered its way around a series of potholes Tuesday in south Brainerd. City, county and state crews have been out for the past couple of weeks attempting to patch potholes, a common occurrence each spring.
Brainerd Dispatch/Kelly Humphrey
"We probably get about four to six calls a day," said Walter. "A lot of our commission and council members call them in if they're out and see them. They know we can't be everywhere at once with 82 miles of road."
Walter said most of the city's problem streets are, naturally, the older roads. He said the city has had more problems on Woida, between Inglewood and Highway 371, and Clearwater Road from Memorywood to Whipple Beach. He said a section of Novotny Road deteriorated so quickly last weekend that the county highway department flagged it.
"Once one of those spots go, if you get a blowout, it can take 10-15 feet of the road real fast because the cars pound through it before we can patch it," Walter explained.
MnDOT's Web site dedicates a Web page to potholes, including a video that may be viewed online called, "Birth of a Pothole" for those who wish to learn more about them.
One pothole can often quickly multiply from water seeping through cracks in the pavement and frequent pounding by traffic on the roadway, as shown in this stretch of roadway behind Brainerd High School's Adamsom Field.
Brainerd Dispatch/Kelly Humphrey
According to MnDOT, a vehicle bends the pavement slightly as it drives over it. Small cracks form on the bottom of the pavement, particularly in places that were stretched the most. The cracks spread to the surface, causing water from rain or melted snow to seep into those cracks. When the temperature drops at night the water freezes, causing it to expand and make the cracks grow. Water then can pool beneath the surface, weakening the pavement even more and creating a hole, ready to open up when vehicles drive over it.
"Heavy rains really raise havoc," said Jeff Gildart, Crow Wing County Highway Department maintenance supervisor. "A lot of rain causes the potholes to open up. Patching is really a temporary fix. We pretty much know where the worst spots are."
Street crews this time of year can only use a cold patch mix since hot asphalt mix plants don't open up for several weeks from now, said Tom Wryk, MnDOT maintenance superintendent for District 3A in the Brainerd/Baxter area. He said the cold mix isn't as good of a patch as a hot mix, and sometimes it has to be reapplied.
MnDOT crews have spent a lot of time on Washington Street and Highway 371 between Baxter and Nisswa, as well as Highway 169 between Aitkin and Garrison, which is scheduled to be repaved this summer.
"It's like the sparrows returning to Capistrano, we know it's going to happen," Wryk said, of potholes.
Road load restrictions were put in place on March 9, about a week earlier than usual because of the warmer temperatures. The restrictions usually aren't lifted until about mid-May in an attempt to save the roadways from further damage.
Gildner said he believes potholes haven't been as bad on the county's 500 miles of asphalt roads this year.
"Be patient, and if there is a serious pothole, we would like to know about it," Gilder advised motorists. "The ones that can cause vehicle damage we want to take care of them."
JODIE TWEED may be reached at jodie.tweed@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5858.