Volgograd officials attempt to explain rapid road destruction
Officials from the Volgograd administration acknowledged the destruction of city roads due to a powerful January thaw. They blamed the appearance of defects in the asphalt on sharp temperature fluctuations and heavy traffic load.
Recall that attentive motorists, forced to maneuver around especially deep potholes, drew attention to the horrifying state of the Second and Third Longitudinal highways.
«The Third Longitudinal, from its very beginning near Nezhdanova Street and further towards Tractor Works, is not a road but some kind of slalom course,» residents said. «Potholes appear literally before your eyes. On the Second Longitudinal, especially starting from Ardatovskaya, where trucks come out, you can only drive in the far left lane: there the asphalt still holds. On Nezhdanova Street, in the right lane, a car with low ground clearance has no business there: if you don»t scrape your «belly,» you«ll leave a wheel in a pothole. Hence the traffic jams and everything else.»
Residents also complained about the long-suffering bridge over the Volga-Don Shipping Canal. According to Volgograd residents living in the Krasnoarmeysky District, despite the fact that truck traffic on the bridge is restricted, the condition of the road surface on it is beyond criticism.
At the mayor«s office, all defects were blamed on the weather and heavy trucks still moving through the city streets.
«One of the reasons for the appearance of defects on the road surface is the peculiarities of the Volgograd climate, which is characterized by frequent alternation of positive and negative temperatures, accompanied by equally frequent freezing and thawing of sedimentary water,» officials stated. «These processes lead to the formation of microcracks in the asphalt concrete surface and their subsequent enlargement. The destruction process is also aggravated by intense transport load, especially on sections where heavy trucks travel. For the prompt elimination of defects on key highways, even before the road construction season begins, temporary repairs of the road surface will be carried out using cast asphalt concrete. The work will be carried out under favorable weather conditions in full compliance with current regulations and technical standards.»
