By Steven Symes 
We’ve all seen the same potholes where we live form, get filled in by the government, then reappear months later. Sometimes the damage gets bigger and deeper, constituting a hazard in the road which can bend wheel rims, wreck suspension components, and be a headache for drivers.
Man invents a car that can fly over pothole and traffic.
While it’s easy to just expect road crews, engineers, and governments to eradicate the problem, the fact is there are good reasons why potholes keep coming back in the same spots. Obviously, filling in the sunken portions of the pavement doesn’t really fix the problem but instead is literally a temporary patch.
What starts the problem in blacktop is a tiny crack, even one the naked eye can’t perceive, which lets water through. The introduction of moisture does two things. It softens up not only the pavement but the layer underneath it, making them both more pliable.
As cars and trucks drive over the weakened area, the asphalt starts to buckle more, along with the material underneath. After a while, both give way, and the section of the road sinks, creating a pothole.
This is made even worse when there isn’t proper drainage on a road. As water pools from precipitation, it has a better chance of seeping through the asphalt and into the layer beneath. Obviously, already present potholes help accelerate this issue, which is why some roads become crackling messes in no time.
Another way water creates potholes through tiny cracks in the blacktop only occurs where temperatures dive below freezing in the winter. The water that’s in the cracks freezes and expands, degrading the road material.
Even worse, in many areas where it snows, municipalities will salt the streets to help with traction as you drive. While it breaks up the ice, that salt helps the road absorb even more moisture, accelerating the development of potholes.
Plus, snowplow blades can catch on already developing potholes. When this happens, the plow can cause further damage, sometimes even ripping a chunk of asphalt right out the street. It’s a real problem in areas with regular snowfall.
There are other things which can cause repeated potholes in roads, like improper construction techniques, tree roots putting pressure on the pavement, and municipalities patching roads without sealing them.
Some have proposed making roads out of a variety of water-permeable materials ranging from rubber to plastic as a way around the problem with potholes forming. While in labs and small scale experiments these designs seem rather revolutionary, the reality is they come with their own weaknesses and hurdles to feasibility.
In other words, while our current pavement isn’t ideal, especially with potholes reappearing over and over, it’s about as good as it gets at the moment. This just means we have to deal with the potholes as the government keeps patching them up, eventually resurfacing the entire road, causing traffic delays in the process.
Lead image via SelloMabelebel1/X