Submitted by Bedford’s Public Works Engineer Adrienne St. John
The inevitable pothole season has arrived. With two feet of frost recorded in various parts of Town, March and April should prove to be another record event in the 2015 winter woes. As the frost comes out of the ground, combined with periodic rain events, potholes can form in older and even newly paved roadways. Potholes typically form either by spalling of the top layer of asphalt, oversize cracks where water can seep in and refreeze, movement of pavement around manholes or at unsealed utility trenches. The Bedford DPW has three methods to patch potholes: cold patch, hot mix and rejuvenated asphalt.
Cold patch is an asphalt/pea stone material that is used for quick repairs, since it doesn’t have to be heated and can be just shoveled into the pothole and tamped in place. New formulas have more “glue” but under most conditions, cold patch might not last more than a winter and has to be replaced with hot mix. At $125/ton, DPW uses cold patch sparingly.
Hot mix is purchased at the asphalt plant; the current price is $105/ton. During this season, there is usually a long line of highway vehicles waiting at the plant before it opens. Our 6 wheeled dump truck holds 9 ton of asphalt; it takes the Highway crew about 4 hours to patch one load.
The DPW also operates an asphalt heater, which rejuvenates old hot top that has been stockpiled at the Carlisle Road facility. These chunks of old asphalt are loaded into the heater at night so that by morning, the mix is about 250°F and ready to be used for patching. Although the heater only holds 3 tons, there is no need to send the truck out of town to get the hot mix and it furthers our recycling efforts as a Green Community.
Pothole complaints are logged in to the DPW’s work order system. When the weather is conducive to patching, the crew is scheduled. Areas along our main roadways or public buildings usually have a higher priority than side streets. The pot hole is first swept clean of loose material and any standing water. The hot mix is dumped from the truck or heater and compacted with a roller. With this cold weather, traffic can travel over the newly patched area within minutes.
Mass DOT Winter Recovery Assistance Program
The Town was just notified that we will receive $94,000 from MassDOT to be used under their Winter Recovery Assistance Program. This is in response to the unprecedented weather this winter, giving $30 million dollars to cities and town to use for potholes, paving and other roadway infrastructure maintenance work.
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They really need to stick some “Bedford” stickers on the doors of the new Town trucks, not sure why they are “undercover”…