The worst winter in many years will most likely cause some of the worst road conditions in many years, since wet weather and freezing temperatures provide ideal conditions for pothole formation.
In fact, some area road departments are already seeing “alligator cracking” and other signs of road deterioration exacerbated by the bad weather, and they’re gearing up to make pothole repairs.
In Kingsport, those repairs may last much longer than they have in the past thanks to a new piece of equipment that requires less manpower, provides the city with a cost savings, and creates a durable patch against winter potholes.
A pressurized patching machine that can fill an almost crater-sized pothole with liquefied asphalt was purchased by the city last spring and has helped repair a record number of potholes, said Kingsport Community Relations Coordinator Tim Whaley.
A combination of the traditional five-man road repair crew and the new Schwarze Road Patcher repaired 3,013 potholes on city streets last year — compared with 1,371 in 2008.
“(The Road Patcher) is going to come in handy, I’m afraid, because I anticipate all this snow and really cold temperatures are going to break asphalt very soon,” said Kingsport Streets and Sanitation Manager Ronnie Hammonds.
“The new system is a spray-injected asphalt and rock combination that gives us another tool in our toolbox to repair potholes quickly and efficiently,” Hammonds said. “We only have to send one worker out with the sprayer, drive to the repair location, and fix things in under an hour.
“According to federal studies, this method we use is probably the best to use for patching holes because the patch is very durable. A regular cold patch repair is labor intensive, with guys using jackhammers, cutting and removing asphalt, and filling with new material. This new machine lets you work with what you have and go on.”
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