Heat causing blowups on local streets, roads

The intense heat wave enveloping much of the country is snarling transportation in some areas by causing metal railroad rails and asphalt roads to expand and buckle.

In Jefferson County, county engineer Tom Goff noted some minor road blowups that have been occurring for the past few weeks. As usual, Pleasant Plain Road has more than anywhere else in the county.

Goff said the number of blowups has been particularly bad this year because of ongoing high temperatures. Some years when the temperatures don?t get as high or last as long, Goff said the county has been able to make it through the summer with no blowups.

The blowups are caused by moisture trapped under the concrete that extreme heat expands until it explodes.

When a blowup does occur, the county road crew removes the loose debris and fills the spot with coal mix until there?s an opportunity for a full patch.

The Fairfield Public Works Department takes a similar approach.

However, only one blowup has occurred in city limits so far this year ? though another one is just starting, said public works superintendent Darrel Bisgard.

The first one happened last weekend just south of the Van Buren Avenue and Sixth Street intersection. Bisgard said the blowup was first marked with a flasher and then filled with coal mix Monday. He said his crew will get to a full patch as time permits.

The second blowup starting west of 16th Street on Grimes Avenue has not yet become an impediment to traffic.

?I?m surprised we?ve only had the two,? Bisgard commented, although he said the city usually only experiences a couple each summer.

Throughout Iowa, the heat has caused dozens of roads to buckle and has damaged runways at airports in Corning and Ankeny.

Authorities in Oklahoma say the heat caused a section of highway to bend, launching a motorcyclist airborne and sending him to the hospital.

Omaha-based Union Pacific Railroad says the heat has forced it to slow its trains in heat-affected areas by 10 to 20 mph. Company spokesman Mark Davis said Wednesday that extreme heat can cause metal rails to expand and kink at weak spots.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this article.