What’s Causing Michigan Roads To Buckle In The Heat?

One of the good things about the weather cooling down this weekend may be that I-69 near Charlotte won't blow up again. According to MLive.com, that portion of I-69 has buckled in places four times in the last week. As a matter of fact, concrete roads buckled all over Michigan last week due to the heat. It will be cooler this weekend, but the forecast is for high temperatures above 90 next weekend.

When the weather gets hot, the concrete in the roads gets even hotter. If you've ever driven by a crew installing or repairing whole sections of freeway, you know they build those things with joints that allow for the concrete to expand in the heat. Unfortunately, there are spots where the road has been patched - sometimes right where the expansion joints are. So, when the road gets hot the next time, some sections expand and have nowhere to go, but up. So, they buckle.

And you might say, "Why don't we just have all asphalt roads?" But then you might have the road melt, like one did in Australia recently.

Here's the story.