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player ready...In the extreme heat, even the roads are suffering.
Algonquin Road buckled in two locations Thursday, in Hoffman Estates near Ela Road and in Algonquin near Elgin Road, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation. Additional buckling and lane closings were reported Wednesday in Schaumburg, Hillside, Lynwood and Addison. All have been fixed.
Columbus Drive buckled just north of Roosevelt Road in Chicago on Wednesday afternoon. A seam in the road buckled across all lanes. The street closed after it was discovered and remains closed for the Taste of Chicago, said Pete Scales, a spokesman for the city’s Department of Transportation.
An IDOT official thinks there could be more buckling before the extreme heat wave is over.
The buckling is caused by heat expanding surface material, which is forced up by the pressure, typically at an existing seam or crack. IDOT spokesman Guy Tridgell said extreme heat by itself can cause the buckling, but it is more common when there has been moisture, which is believed to be the case in the recent incidents. Rainfall can create moisture trapped under the surface, which heats up because of the weather. That puts even more pressure on the road, he said.
“That’s not to say it won’t happen in areas that are dry, but the ones we have been experiencing have been in areas that have had rainfall,” he said. “It exacerbates the problem.”
The Columbus Drive buckling occurred above a pedestrian underpass, which Scales said could have contributed to the problem. The underpass was not damaged, and no one was injured. He is not aware of any other major incidents in the city.
Tridgell said the buckling was expected, and the suburban roads have been relatively easy to fix because crews simply remove the top layer and place a temporary patch. No accidents directly related to the buckling have been reported, he said.