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Heat buckles pavement, snarling Twin Cities traffic
MPR ^ | 6-6-11 | Nancy Lebens

Posted on 06/07/2011 12:30:26 PM PDT by WOBBLY BOB

St. Paul, Minn. — The Minnesota Department of Transportation is warning motorists to watch out for roads that might buckle without warning.

MnDOT spokesman Kent Barnard said the heat and humidity had caused pavement to heave on some Twin Cities metro highways.

Monday afternoon lanes were closed in I-94 in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Barnard said heat damaged roads in more than 20 places.

Barnard said he has not heard of accidents associated with buckling pavement. But he'd heard reports of damage to cars.

Older concrete highways are more prone to heave up, as debris fills the cracks between the panels, leaving no place for the pavement to expand.

(Excerpt) Read more at minnesota.publicradio.org ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: Minnesota
KEYWORDS: doom; heat; pavement; traffic
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fortunate nobody killed or injured that I've heard of yet
1 posted on 06/07/2011 12:30:30 PM PDT by WOBBLY BOB
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To: WOBBLY BOB

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


2 posted on 06/07/2011 12:32:08 PM PDT by ButThreeLeftsDo (FreeRepublic.com. Now, More Than Ever.)
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To: WOBBLY BOB

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*


3 posted on 06/07/2011 12:33:34 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set...)
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo

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.


4 posted on 06/07/2011 12:34:55 PM PDT by WOBBLY BOB ( "I don't want the majority if we don't stand for something"- Jim Demint)
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To: WOBBLY BOB

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?


5 posted on 06/07/2011 12:35:13 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Conservatism: Come up with a better political belief system, and I'll adopt it as my own.)
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To: DoughtyOne

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.


6 posted on 06/07/2011 12:38:44 PM PDT by steve86 (Acerbic by nature, not nurture (Could be worst in 40 years))
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To: DoughtyOne

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.


7 posted on 06/07/2011 12:39:44 PM PDT by ButThreeLeftsDo (FreeRepublic.com. Now, More Than Ever.)
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To: WOBBLY BOB

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


8 posted on 06/07/2011 12:39:54 PM PDT by johniegrad
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To: DoughtyOne

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


9 posted on 06/07/2011 12:40:06 PM PDT by Terry Mross (Only a SECOND party will get my vote.)
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To: DoughtyOne
most of the roads are old and we got choo-choo money to blow. free money , you know.


10 posted on 06/07/2011 12:40:29 PM PDT by WOBBLY BOB ( "I don't want the majority if we don't stand for something"- Jim Demint)
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To: steve86

Thanks Steve, good points.


11 posted on 06/07/2011 12:41:30 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Conservatism: Come up with a better political belief system, and I'll adopt it as my own.)
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To: DoughtyOne

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.


12 posted on 06/07/2011 12:43:38 PM PDT by Zathras
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo

That may be true. I appreciate the response.


13 posted on 06/07/2011 12:44:07 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Conservatism: Come up with a better political belief system, and I'll adopt it as my own.)
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To: ButThreeLeftsDo
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.

14 posted on 06/07/2011 12:45:45 PM PDT by steve86 (Acerbic by nature, not nurture (Could be worst in 40 years))
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To: WOBBLY BOB
I'm sure MnDOT has their finest out on the roads to correct these problems.


15 posted on 06/07/2011 12:47:08 PM PDT by Lazlo in PA (Now living in a newly minted Red State.)
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To: Zathras

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.


16 posted on 06/07/2011 12:47:20 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Conservatism: Come up with a better political belief system, and I'll adopt it as my own.)
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To: WOBBLY BOB
GWCRAP
17 posted on 06/07/2011 12:47:56 PM PDT by FrankR (A people that values its privileges above its principles will soon lose both.)
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To: WOBBLY BOB

18 posted on 06/07/2011 12:48:28 PM PDT by musicman (Until I see the REAL Long Form Vault BC, he's just "PRES__ENT" Obama = Without "ID")
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To: steve86

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.


19 posted on 06/07/2011 12:48:46 PM PDT by Hodar (Who needs laws .... when this "feels" so right?)
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To: Terry Mross
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

20 posted on 06/07/2011 12:50:46 PM PDT by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
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