Road crews attack pothole problem

Old Man Winter in the Clark Fork Valley has thrown the road crews in Sanders County a sharp curve ball.

Snow accumulations continue to sit in massive piles on the sides of the roads in Heron and Noxon, creating single lanes between looming banks of old snow. Meanwhile, the variant temperatures in the lower areas, such as Plains and Paradise, have created jagged road conditions earlier than usual.

Roger Mallery, road foreman of the District 1 county shop in Plains, said the broken up roads are a result of months of moisture and freezing, along with weight and vehicle speed.

"It's a combination of moisture and then freezing, along with heavy loads and high speed," Mallery said. "It would help if people would slow down."

Mallery said that after moisture enters the cracks, it expands and creates bubbles, called frost heaves. He said that once they start to thaw out they break up easily, especially if people drive over them at high speeds.

Mallery said the road crews are able to fix some of the more prominent broken areas and they have already gone out River Road West, where some of the worst damage was, but there are still some bad areas people need to watch out for. River Road East and Lower Lynch Road are particularly bad areas where people should slow down. Mallery said the road crew will get to them eventually, but until then they need patience from drivers.

"Some of the larger holes we can patch once all the moisture is out of them," Mallery said. "If people can just be patient, we'll get to the rest."

Rudy Friesz, public works director for Plains, said they are working to fix what holes the can within town, starting with the nasty ones first.

"We are filling potholes," Friesz said. "We try to get the deeper ones first."

Friesz said Plains uses a pothole sealing material called winter patch that works well in colder temperatures.

"It's a pliable material," Friesz said. "You can use it in warm or cold weather and it works really well."

He said the town uses the winter patch until the weather gets warmer and then they go back to a pothole sealer called a 250-mix that he said is more affordable.

Mallery said the county also uses the winter patch and they too will go back to the less-expensive 250-mix after the temperatures rise. He said the wide spectrum of weather throughout the county puts the road crews in a unique position, making them fight two battles at once. The massive amounts of snow forced District 3 (the west end of the county) to draw workers from other districts.

"We've had some guys from our crew over there helping to push snow," Mallory said. "They're probably going to have some problems with flooding."

Commissioner Hank Laws said the high snow accumulations in the western part of the county is causing problems because there's no place to put it. He said that end of the county has yet to have to deal with torn up asphalt, like the Plains area, but it will only be a matter of time before the snow melt will cause break-up near Noxon and Heron. Laws said it is early for the Plains area to be having problems with torn-up roads, but he noted it is getting closer and closer to spring.

"It's just a little bit early yet, earlier than usual I should say," Laws said. "But we are in the middle of February, so it's getting closer all the time."

Laws said one of the only things the county can do is place load limits on trucks to help keep the damage to a minimum. Mallery said load quantities are reduced by half from 600 to 300 pounds per tire inch. He said it makes a big impact on haulers, especially log trucks.

"A lot of the log trucks are up to that 300-pound limit without a load of logs," Mallery said.

He said the trucks can go through one way empty and then have to find another route after they pick up a load of logs.

Friesz said state Route 200 is in better condition where it runs through Plains than the rest of town because the state is able to put down more pavement underneath the chip seal. He said Plains uses the same two-chip seal, but doesn't have the luxury of the thick pavement underneath. He said the state has those capabilities because they have more funds to draw from.

Leonard Larson of the Montana Department of Transportation Plains office agreed that the state is in better shape with its roads. He said having more money allows them to put down about eight inches of asphalt cement.

"The biggest reason 200 is better is probably funding," Larson said. "We use different material while the county uses only the chip seal."

Larson said the asphalt cement has chemicals in it that harden better and are tougher than a chip seal. He said they then lay a chip seal during the summer that seals in the asphalt and provides traction.

Larson said state Route 28 isn't in as good condition as Route 200 because it of its age and because of the wet land it was built on.

"It's a rough road at times and part of that is because it's an old road," Larson said. "Some of it is in a swamp area and has lots of water underneath it."

Larson said load limits for Route 28 happen usually every year, mainly because of the swampy areas, but that's not the case for Route 200.

"We haven't had any load limits on 200 the last few years," Larson said. "And I haven't seen anything yet that makes me think we will this year."

Larson echoed Friesz and Mallery, saying that all the moisture the county has seen this winter is making it a bad year for roads. Friesz said he just hopes it doesn't get any worse.

"Let's hope it doesn't freeze up again then snow again," Friesz said. "We'll have spring break-up all over again."