What Causes Potholes: The Long-Lasting Solution

Potholes are a frustration and a challenge for both drivers and road authorities, causing damage to vehicles, disruption to traffic flow, and safety hazards to road users.

Beyond the immediate inconvenience, potholes can create a significant financial burden in maintaining transportation infrastructure.

Water Infiltration as the Root Cause

Water is the primary reason that potholes form, seeping into the road and weakening the underlying road structure. Here’s a breakdown of the process:

1. Entry Points: Cracks, poorly sealed joints, and the natural porosity of conventional road materials, such as crushed aggregate, allow water to seep into the road base, crucial to the support of the road
2. Weakened Foundation: Trapped water weakens the subgrade, softening the soil and in some severe cases can completely washout the underlying soils, affecting the road’s stability under the weight of traffic.
3. Freeze-Thaw Cycles: In cold climates, trapped water freezes and expands, placing stress on the road surface, causing cracks and compromising the road structure. When the ice thaws, it leaves a void that allows more water to infiltrate and accelerate deterioration of the sub base.
4. Traffic Load: The compromised subgrade can no longer bear the weight of vehicles and as the traffic rolls over the weakened areas, the road surface collapses, creating a pothole.

Conventional Pothole Repair Methods and Their Limitations

Road maintenance is a reactive strategy, with crews patching the potholes after they have formed. While patching addresses the immediate problem of filling the visible hole, it’s only a temporary solution with the underlying issue of water infiltration ignored, resulting in the pothole likely reoccurring in the same spot or section of the road. The cycle of constant repair is expensive and time-consuming.

Beyond Strength: AggreBind’s Water-Resistant Properties

AggreBind is known for its strong and durable roads, but it is AggreBind’s water-resistant and hydrophobic properties that prevent pothole formation by significantly reducing the ability of water to infiltrate the road base. By preventing the ingress of water, AggreBind disrupts the pothole formation cycle leading to significant cost savings in road maintenance, reduced disruption and reconstruction projects and extended road infrastructure life spans.

AggreBind’s innovative technology tackles the root cause of potholes, preventing their formation and extending the lifespan of transportation infrastructure. Fewer disruptions for drivers, safer road conditions, and a more efficient and cost-effective transportation system means a future where smooth, reliable roads are the norm, not the exception.