Potholes: Causes, Maintenance and Pitfalls

• Overview

Roads are built to provide a safe and comfortable ride for road users. To fill this function, a pavement surface must be smooth, thus free of breaches such as potholes. Potholes are circular holes in asphalt pavement extending through an entire pavement layer. In certain conditions, they develop in a matter of hours. If potholes are not fixed immediately after they appear, a safety risk for road users is imminent. Further, more damage to the road structure is caused by penetrating water through the pothole. Mitigation of potholes therefore needs to be timely. This causes challenges to road agencies, and the expense relating to the problems that potholes cause, increase by the hour.

This OnDemand Webinar helps design and maintenance engineers as well as road owners to understand the causes for pothole formation and provides means to eliminate and mitigate potholes in effective manner. The program explains the three conditions that are required for pothole formation, and demonstrates how to handle each one of them in order to eliminate pothole formation. It also shows how to mitigate potholes after they have appeared and how to avoid future potholes. Mistakes in pothole maintenance and their effects on future road upkeep are covered. Failing to manage potholes may lead to traffic accidents, liability risk and increased cost of pavement upkeep.

Learning Objectives:

• You will be able to describe causes of potholes.
• You will be able to review mitigation of potholes.
• You will be able to review mistakes in maintenance.
• You will be able to discuss effect of water and traffic on pothole development.

Authors

Agenda

Potholes

• What Are Potholes

• Why Are Potholes a Problem

Causes of Potholes

• Conditions for Potholes to Occur

• Effect of Water and Traffic on Pothole Development

• Breaches Leading to Potholes

Mitigation of Potholes

• Techniques During Rehabilitation

• Maintenance Techniques

Pitfalls

• Mistakes in Maintenance

• Problems for Future Road Keeping