Unseasonable weather playing havoc with city streets

An unseasonably warm winter, marked by periods of freezing temperatures and a mixture of rain and snow, continues to play havoc on the city's roadways.

"We don't have a lot of winters in terms of snow, but we do have a lot of freeze-thaw cycles, and that's what causes the damage to pavements," said city public works director Wayne Shepherd. "There's not much we can do about that because Mother Nature dictates that."

The problem involves standing water that seeps into tiny fractures in the asphalt roadways. When the temperature drops, this trapped water expands, weakening the surrounding asphalt. By spring, these thawing surfaces are exposed to vehicle traffic, which causes the weakened pavement to break apart, becoming the perfect recipe for creating potholes, Shepherd said.

"Spring is the time where we really see... things break up," he added. "The time to see that (issue) is just after a light rain, and you can see the cracks."

To combat the problems, city street crews work to seal visible cracks in the street surfaces to extend their lifespan while dealing with potholes as they get reported, according to Shepherd. In addition, the city sprayed what's known as a "fog seal" on newer streets in the Rolling Hills Subdivision to help keep water out of the pavement.

"(However) asphalt is already porous, so some of the water is going to get through," Shepherd said.

The bottom line: Every community that deals with a freeze-thaw cycle is going to have potholes, he added.

During the winter, city street crews here use a specialized winter patching compound on problematic potholes. It provides a temporary fix until the city can go back and repair the street down the road. The trade off is the special compound's price and short shelf life, making it unfeasible to use it for every problem that surfaces.

In short, the city ends up "chasing pot-holes" until spring arrives, Shepherd said

In coming weeks, the public works director expects road crews to begin mixing up batches of standard asphalt to start the chore of making more permanent repairs to city streets versus the "bandage fixes" they've needed to make since the first snow fell.

"It's always going to be a challenge," Shepherd said regarding repairs to city streets. Mountain Home alone has 72 miles of roadway with enough funds in the city budget to repair about a mile's worth of roads each year.

On average, a city street will last up to 20 years. However, roadways with a high volume of traffic, like American Legion Boulevard and Airbase Road will last up to 10 years, Shepherd said. Other roads with shorter lifespans includes local farm roads like South 18th East Street, which carry a bulk of the city's semi traffic that transport produce and livestock.

Looking ahead, Shepherd emphasized that some city streets will receive some much-needed attention this summer. Crews expect to replace a section of North Haskett Street this summer as part of a waterline upgrade project in the area. Meanwhile, a storm water replacement project on East 10th North Street, also scheduled for this summer, would include replacing a nearly four-block section of that street.

Shepherd remains equally optimistic that the city will receive funding to rebuild South 18th East Street within the next three years. The design work on that project alone is expected to take a year to complete.

In new projects like these, the public works department requires these newly built roads to have a crown in the center which helps divert rain and snow to the sides of the street versus puddling in middle. This strategy helps prevent standing water from seeping into the high-traffic surfaces to keep them newer, longer, Shepherd said.