Thawing brings with it road concerns and load limits

OLIVET — Effective noon Thursday, spring load limits of 7 tons per axle were applied to the 1.8-mile section of Highway 18 between Highway 25 and Olivet.

Roads crew were busy Thursday patching potholes on the new section of highway.

The nearly two-mile section of road was rebuilt last year, but the contracting agency was unable to complete paving operations in the fall of 2010 before winter weather closed in. A final layer of asphalt will be placed on the highway this spring, said Ron Peterson, Yankton area engineer with the Department of Transportation.

“With the rapid thawing and only one lift of asphalt on the road, a few sections began causing us problems,” he said. “We’ve had crews stabilizing the road until the contractor can come back and finish the job this spring.”

Davison County Highway Superintendent Rusty Weinberg said Thursday that the rapid warm-up means he must start addressing load limits earlier than he intended.

“Next week I’m going to ask the county commissioners to consider posting the limits,” he said.

Rapidly softening road bases are increasing the potential for asphalt break-up, he said.

“We have water oozing up through the cracks in many roads already, which means that the frost is beginning to come out of the roads.”

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