Heat buckles pavement, snarling Twin Cities traffic

MPR ^ | 6-6-11 | Nancy Lebens

[WOBBLY BOB]

fortunate nobody killed or injured that I've heard of yet

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

I’m dreading walking out of here after work....

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Happened on one of our roads this morning, too. Backed up the commute considerably...

Wonder where all the $$$ is in our Transportation Fund to fix stuff like this? Oh, that’s RIGHT! Former Governor ‘Diamond Jim’ Doyle, D, WI raided it to balance the state budget a few years back! And no one said a thing...

*Facepalm*

[WOBBLY BOB]

http://www.kare11.com/weather/default.aspx

101 right now.

at least you got to work! my car is toast. I have a rental, glad it works and has high output A/C .

wouldn’t want to hit a canyon in the road on the cycle.

[DoughtyOne]

How do you cover this story and not give the temperatures/humidity involved, and why the Twin Cities are experiencing this problem when states across this nation have temperatures/humidity far higher, and don’t?

Is someone trying to game the system to alarm people about global warming or something, or has the Twin Cities been using sub-par highway methods?

[steve86]

I was wondering that too. Here at about the same latitude (eastern WA) we sometimes get to over 110 in the summer and no buckling. AZ., Death Valley, etc. much hotter yet with pavement above 160.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

The road explosions happen here every summer. Because of the wide range of temperatures here from winter to spring, the roads are subject to so much expansion and contraction, a material that will withstand the exteremes hasn’t been invented yet.

[johniegrad]

Wind off the lake and 58 in TwoHarbors. http://www.wunderground.com/US/MN/Two_Harbors.html

[Terry Mross]

Sounds like the “shovel ready” money isn’t reaching the road department.

[WOBBLY BOB]

most of the roads are old and we got choo-choo money to blow. free money , you know.

[DoughtyOne]

Thanks Steve, good points.

[Zathras]

Having lived in the Twin Cities for 1/2 my life, we have two seasons. Winter and pothole-road construction season.
Yea someones trying to promote global warming again.

[DoughtyOne]

That may be true. I appreciate the response.

[steve86]

Because of the wide range of temperatures here from winter to spring

We may not go quite as low but from -24 to +117 (approx. extremes in last 20 years) we do. Probably about the same net difference.

[Lazlo in PA]

I'm sure MnDOT has their finest out on the roads to correct these problems.

[DoughtyOne]

Thanks Zathras. I know New York City seems to have those two seasons also, hearing the city’s residents complain about them potholes so much.

[FrankR]

[musicman]

[Hodar]

It’s not the heat, it’s the temperature differential. Consider, it’s not unusual for parts of the frozen North (North and South Dakota, Minnesota) to get down to -40 during the winter, then when summer comes along it heats up to 110. That’s a 150 temperature differential.

Contrast that to your Death Valley, which ranges between +30 to 160 - that’s only a 130 degree variation (20 degree less variation). When that asphalt expands and contracts - it’s gotta go somewhere.

[Moonman62]

Sounds like the “shovel ready” money isn’t reaching the road department.

They have a history of neglect around there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-35W_Mississippi_River_bridge