It’s likely that you have encountered this scenario multiple times in your life: you’re enjoying a lovely day while traveling on the road when suddenly wham! A big pothole is rocking your car. After an unfortunate run-in with one of these dangerous pavement craters, you might have even burst a tire.
What are potholes specifically? How are potholes created? Why is it important for property managers in particular to fix potholes in their parking lots as soon as possible? Below, we’ll go over each of these questions’ responses in more detail.
Explain potholes.
It’s quite difficult to conceal what a pothole is. One description of a pothole is “a hole in the road surface that results from gradual damage caused by traffic and/or weather”. When roads (and parking lots) are not constructed or maintained properly, pothole damage and ruts frequently develop over time.
WHY FORM POTHOLES?
Weak spots in the parking lot or roadway are where potholes usually appear. These vulnerable locations could arise from:
• Asphalt that is thin. The DOT or property manager may choose to only apply the minimum amount of asphalt thickness necessary to adhere to applicable codes when money is tight. Thin asphalt typically indicates a fragile road.
• Discharge issues. Water will hold still and eventually drain beneath the surface of the asphalt if there is insufficient slope and/or runoff system to allow the water to escape. Faster erosion will result from this in turn.
• Bad upkeep. An increase in erosion from draining water can occur from improper maintenance of a road or parking lot, which can cause fractures in the asphalt.
• Abuse. Potholes can eventually emerge when more weight, pressure, or force is applied than the asphalt is intended to withstand. For example, the weight of a large truck or tractor passing over a particular area of the parking lot could press against the surface, weakening the asphalt.
HOW ARE POTHOLES CREATED?
In terms of the process itself, water and gravity essentially create potholes:
1. First, water from melting snow or rain penetrates into the pavement through tiny cracks and collects beneath the top layer of pavement.
2. Liquid water freezes and expands in cold weather due to freezing temperatures. The pavement rises as a result of the frozen ice pushing up from underneath the road surface. We refer to this as frost heave.
3. The pushed-up pavement leaves an empty space beneath it as the temperature rises and the ice hardens once more.
4. After that, significant vehicle traffic crosses the enlarged road surface and presses against the asphalt surface. However, with the absence of ice to provide support from below, the pavement crumbles into the vacant space. The pavement cracks and breaks.
This process repeats itself when the freeze-thaw cycle occurs naturally, with water seeping into progressively more road fractures, full-blown potholes, and nearby asphalt damage.
Pothole season is named after the abundance of potholes that occur in late winter and early spring. Spring is a prime time for pothole creation because of the drastic temperature swings between warm and cold, which can seriously damage your pavement.
WHY DO PROPERTY MANAGERS NEED TO HAVE IMMEDIATE POTHOLES REPAIRED?
For a property manager in charge of a parking lot, why is it important for you to be aware of potholes? What makes it necessary for you to get them fixed as soon as possible? Here are a few examples of why:
1. TO AVOID DAMAGE TO THE VEHICLE
It’s true that cars won’t—or shouldn’t—be passing through your parking lot at sixty miles per hour. Even yet, if there are any potholes in your lot, entering automobiles may sustain serious damage from them, particularly if the pothole is not easily seen from all sides.
A car crashing into a pothole may cause the following damages, to name a few:
• Tire blowouts or punctures
• Issues with suspensions
• Electrical cable loosening; • Steering alignment loss;
It goes without saying that you want to take all reasonable precautions to shield entering and departing vehicles from harm (and any liabilities you may suffer as a result).
2. TO DECREASE THE RISK OF DAMAGE
Damage to your car is not the only thing to worry about. Keep in mind that in order to move from point A to point B, pedestrians must traverse your pavement surface. Someone could trip over a pothole on your property and sustain serious injuries in a painful fall. This might be particularly risky for elderly and disabled people.
3. TO PREVENT OVERCROWDING
Driving over a pothole on purpose is not something that any rational person would do. The problem is that when cars avoid these potential hazards on the road, a parking lot full of potholes may lead to worse traffic jams. People might take longer to park or leave the property, which could lead to traffic jams, heightened annoyance, and more incidents. Drivers may even choose to purposefully avoid using your parking lot in favor of another one when your property’s reputation erodes over time.
4. In order to raise the property’s worth
It should be rather evident that parking lots with potholes tend to be less valuable, as does any building that is connected to the parking lot. You must make sure that your entire property, including the driveway and parking lot, is in the greatest possible condition if you ever want to sell it and want to receive the highest price.
5. TO CHECK UNDERTAKEN ISSUES
Rather than being the primary issue, potholes might be a sign of something more serious. For example, if subterranean piping is damaged and starts to leak water beneath the surface of the parking lot, potholes may develop. In that case, patching the surface potholes will only be a band-aid solution at most. You probably have larger fish to fry if a pothole is fixed and two more pop up soon after, in which case you should take care of the underlying problem right away.
Potholes can be avoided most effectively by treating pavement fractures with routine care. But, you should use professionals to deal with any existing pothole issues or more substantial fractures. With the ability and knowledge to quickly remove potholes from your parking lot, Superior Asphalt, LC provides a broad range of asphalt repair and patching services. Get in touch with us right now to find out more.