POTHOLES: - CSIR

CHAPTER 4REPAIR/CORRECTIONPrior to any pothole repair, it is essential to have identified the cause of the problemas described in the previous section.4.1 BackgroundOther than for shallow potholes affecting thesurfacing only, without repairing or attendingto the fundamental problem, pothole repairswill rarely be successful and will requirerepeated repair (Figure 27). During this time thedegree and extent of the potholes will increasesignificantly. The overall riding-quality of the roadgenerally decreases simultaneously. Aspectsrelating to attending to the fundamental problemsare included in this section of the document underthe different repair techniques.The fundamental principle relating to potholerepair is to produce a patch with a deflectionunder traffic similar to the adjacent road.Significant differences in deflection will leadto cracking at the interface of the patch,as frequently seen at the junctions betweenmanholes in the road (essentially deep and stiffenough to avoid any deflection under traffic)and the adjacent road. Any cracking thatdevelops between patches and the road undertraffic loading will lead to ingress of water andadditional potholing.Figure 27: Repeated repair of potholes due to the fundamental problem (subsurface drainage) not being addressed27