Description

Simple pavement cracking becomes wide cracking (larger than one inch) when water channels and incompressible debris and vegetation enter the breach. Over time, thermal expansion/contraction, erosion, and ice and plant wedging, widens the once small crack and damages the road base. Wide cracking can also be the result of dry, brittle pavement materials.

If left untreated:

Pavement will continue to deteriorate, allowing water infiltration and channeling, and additional cracks will form, eventually becoming voids, potholes, raveling, and worse. Wide cracks may also begin to dip in or “cup,” leaving a depression deep enough to cause heavy wheel impacts, which is very damaging to vehicles and transfers impact energy directly into already distressed pavement.