Potholes continue causing trouble for Oakland County drivers, and now an expert is explaining how potholes start.
Potholes of all shapes and sizes have been a problem across the county, as winter continues to destroy local roads.
Nishantha Bandara, assistant professor of civil engineering at Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, has researched weather effects on the roadways.
Before joining the Lawrence Tech faculty in 2012, Bandara was supervising geotechnical engineer at the regional headquarters of MDOT in Southfield. He is continuing his research on the freeze-thaw cycle and soil stabilization in road construction.
He is currently working on an MDOT-sponsored study of adding recycled materials to soil to further stabilize roads.
The simplest reason for a pothole is that ice takes up more space than water.
“All roads have cracks, so water seeps through those cracks and stays under the road,” Bandara said. “When water freezes, it expands. The volume of ice is greater than the same amount of water. So you see this heaving effect in the early part of winter when temperatures drop below freezing.”
Then, ice pushes up the road surface slightly, and then the process is reversed when there is a thaw.
“Even during the winter, you get 40 degree weather, and the ice thaws to water – so then there’s a void under the pavement,” Bandara said. “And when a heavy vehicle passes by, there’s a collapse, and you have a pothole.”
But Bandara has hope for the future of Michigan roads because roads built in Michigan during the past few years use a new technique to allow water to seep through the road base and just keep going away from the pavement.
Bandara said to keep an eye on the area of I-96/I-75 around the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit, among other places. This road reconstruction, part of the so-called Gateway Project, used this new technique.
“Hopefully, you will see fewer potholes,” Bandara said.
There is also good news for drivers in Southfield.
The Road Commission for Oakland County said they will reconstruct the southbound lanes of Greenfield Road between 8 and 9 Mile roads on the Southfield and Oak Park border during this year’s construction season.
They will continue to patch the potholes on this section of Greenfield on a near daily basis as needed, but will not close it.
“We recognize that this section of Greenfield Road is in very bad condition,” stated Road Commission of Oakland County Managing Director Dennis Kolar. “We have been working with the City of Southfield for more than a year to come up with a plan for the emergency reconstruction of the southbound lanes. That work will take place this year, during the construction season.”
County Commissioner Nancy Quarles has also been working to get the road fixed.
“I am not immune to the untimely disruption that is being experienced by motorists. That is why I am working closely with the road commission to escalate efforts in light of weather conditions that we must bear in mind,” Quarles said. “We believe that all roads are important to our motorists and residents which is our focus as we formulate a viable plan.”