The recent heat wave has damaged several highways across Missouri, especially in the central part of the state.
At least a dozen incidents of buckling concrete, sometimes called "blow-ups," were called in to MoDOT during the recent heat wave. It occurs when the surface of a road expands at a crack or joint where water has seeped in.
Randy Aulbur is maintenance engineer for MoDOT's central district.
"A lot of times where we have this occur is where there is concrete pavement that you're driving on or the underlying pavement underneath is concrete pavement," he said. "(It’s) basically where that heat stress builds up between the joints in the concrete pavement and causes that rift.”
Aulbur said concrete-paved roads are more likely to buckle under extreme heat than those paved with asphalt.
Not to say that the asphalt pavement doesn't have its own issues with heat, but this type of blow-up is more prone to concrete pavement."
Aulbur said while asphalt is more flexible under heat, too much heat can lead to ruts.
Incidents of buckling have occurred along some 4-lane highways in recent weeks, including U.S. 54, one of the major routes to the Lake of the Ozarks.
MoDOT crews have also been called out to repair buckling on sections of U.S. highways 50 and 63 in recent weeks.
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