X
UTAH

I-15 buckles at Parrish Lane due to extremely high temperatures

UPDATED: JULY 23, 2019 AT 6:47 PM

(photo: Chopper 5)

BY
KSLNewsRadio

CENTERVILLE — Drivers experienced major delays from Parrish Lane on I-15 all the way back to North Salt Lake because of road buckling Tuesday.

UDOT’s John Gleason says road buckling is a result of continued extremely high temperatures, which the Salt Lake Valley has been seeing over the last week.

“We see situations like this on older pavements,” says Gleason. “The panels expand, and there are joints that separate those panels to allow that expansion. Sometimes, in the older pavements, you can get dirt and grit in those joints, and that causes no place for those panels to expand.”

Without room to expand, those panels have nowhere to go but up, and Gleason says that creates essentially an accelerated pothole.

The construction affected drivers on the evening commute, and, in some cases, rerouted drivers altogether.

This happened a few years ago near the Point of the Mountain before UDOT redid the road there.

Construction crews worked to fix the road with asphalt as a temporary solution. Gleason says they have a more permanent solution later when the traffic is less congested.

  •