I heard on the news a few days ago, a road in WI buckled up because it was so hot.

[raccoon]

Any civil engineers here?

Why doesn't that happen everywhere, particularly in areas that are super hot--such as Nevada and Texas?


edited for spelling

[HappyMe]

1. I'm no expert but,

it may be the concrete or asphalt mix they use.

Their roads probably wouldn't make it through a WI winter unscathed.

[PoliticAverse]

2. Roads involving concrete are the ones most likely to buckle. Asphalt is much more flexible

than concrete.

[jberryhill]

3. Expansion joints

Asphalt roads can handle a fair amount of internal stress.

Concrete roads are built with expansion joints - that thin black line between sections.



Watch this:

[tanyev]

4. I don't know details, but I am sure that they use different materials for different regions.

Maybe even different techniques.

[mmonk]

5. This happened also in Raleigh NC. I 440 buckled.

http://www.wral.com/weather/video/11266057/#/vid11266057

[justabob]

6. it does happen elsewhere

Roads all over Texas had issues last year.

on edit: http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2011/07/13/north-texas-heat-causing-roadways-to-buckle/

[tammywammy]

10. While thankfully none of the roads I regularly drive had this issue

I remember a lot of news reports during our hot hot hot summer last year of roads buckling.

[justabob]

11. yeah, last year was awful

And apparently the Superbowl ice storm in DFW made the roads here more vulnerable. I don't really know if my paths were affected because in the city the roads are pretty bad regardless, lots of dips and bulges and potholes aplenty.

I am so glad we are not on day 23 (or whatever) of 100+ temps. Last year was unbearable. It is amazing what a difference there is between 103 and 98. I am not loving the humidity though.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

7. What I notice more around Chicago are the concrete raised medians buckling.

[quaker bill]

8. Thermal expansion is a property of virtually all materials

It is a property that one usually does not notice because the change in length is fairly small by percent for most materials. However, a small percentage change in length becomes a pretty large distance when the length of the road is many miles. A 0.1% change in length spread over two miles (10,000+ feet) is roughly 10'. When 10' of extra road suddenly tries to fit in the same place, concrete buckles. That is why there are expansion joints, but sometimes they aren't big enough.

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. Thank you for that factual reply.

[Bluzmann57]

12. Happened here too

A piece of Interstate 74, which runs through this area, buckled yesterday because of the heat. What scares the hell out of me is that the I-74 bridge is a heavily travelled bridge and it is in need of replacement. But the teahadists in Congress are holding up funding for the bridge. FYI the funding is tied into the transportation bill which has to be made into law to create many many jobs.

[flvegan]

13. Jalopnik has the story, and the video:

http://jalopnik.com/5922904/heat+buckled-highway-causes-wild-dukes-of-hazzard-jump

[hunter]

14. I saw this happen in Illinois...

...except one slab crumpled under the other, making a stair-step facing traffic. We were traveling on the other side of the interstate.

About a dozen cars hit the raised slab before traffic came to a stop. These cars were totaled and were facing in all directions surrounded by mechanical debris. Fortunately nobody was killed.

The expansion joints are designed to compensate for a certain maximum temperature. Once that temperature is exceeded the road buckles.

But there's a consideration limiting the size of expansion joints too. The larger the expansion joint is, the more likely it will fail if water gets in between the joints and under the road and then freezes. Freezing water will also cause roads to buckle.

These freeze-thaw cycles can also move entire sections of road, sometimes pushing adjacent slabs closer together, making the expansion joint smaller, and lowering the temperature at which the road will buckle in the summer.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

15. Not just in Wisconsin

It happened in Minnesota, too.

[PavePusher]

16. It does.

Come look at Valencia road between Kolb and Wilmot here in Tucson.....

It's actually painful to drive on, or to ride a motorcycle. Riding a bicycle over the asphalt buckles should be in the same class as waterboarding.