I have a thermometer in my car that measures the outdoor air temperature. When I got into my car this morning at 6:15 am to come to work, the outdoor temperature in Minnesota on January 27 was 45 degrees – above zero. Unbelievable! But, as most Minnesotans know deep in their thawing souls, we’ll all have to pay, somehow, for this unseasonably warm weather. And how will we pay, you might ask? One word: Potholes.
Potholes are created by the freeze-thaw cycle. Streets freeze and thaw. The more cycles of freezing and thawing that streets go through, the more apt they are to develop potholes in their weak spots, typically where moisture has seeped into the pavement. This freezing and thawing weakens the pavement. Vehicle traffic weakens the weak spots even more causing the asphalt to eventually crumble and pop out.
Spring is prime pothole season in Minnesota because the freeze-thaw cycle can happen often and quickly. Unlike late fall or early winter where our temps start a slow steady dependable decrease down to the zero range, late winter/early spring can be very different. Today it’s relatively balmy, but we all know that tomorrow (or the next day or the one after that) could be back down to frigid temps again. The more often the temps swing, the more negative the impact it has on our streets. The same is true for the height and depth of these temperature swings. Bigger is not better in this respect.
If you encounter a pothole on an Eden Prairie street that you’d like to tell us about, you can call our Street Maintenance Division office at 949.8533 to report it. The more precise your description of the location of the pothole, the better. This office is staffed Monday-Friday from 8 am – 4:30 pm. The phone is equipped with voice mail, so if you’d like to call after hours, that’s OK too. You can also report potholes online at the City’s website at www.edenprairie.org. Just click the “contact us” button near the bottom of the page.
The speed of our response depends on the seriousness of the pothole. We’ll look at the type of traffic and the size of the pothole to make this judgment. As we get closer to spring, we will launch a widespread pothole repair program to, hopefully, rid our fair city of this menace to safe and enjoyable driving.
We’ll give it our best shot, anyway.
