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(Ames, IA) -- The state's planning to spend millions more to fix winter damage on interstates and highways. The Iowa Transportation Commission has approved an additional $15 million dollars for pothole repair, nearly doubling the spending for maintenance. Crews can do temporary patching between winter storms but must wait until warmer weather to seal cracks and joints and patch large potholes and big cracks with longer-lasting materials.
John Hart, DOT Engineer says potholes form due to a combination of factors including age of the pavement, an unusual amount of precipitation, and fluctuating temperatures. He says the damage is random and is all over the state.
Moisture seeps into the cracks and becomes trapped. When subsurface temperatures freeze, the moisture expands, and the pressure can cause the pavement to bulge, heave, and/or break.
He says drivers who wish to report pavement problems can do so via iowadot.gov or thru the DOT's social media sites.