West Fargo patching up potholes for road improvements

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — Expect to see a little more traffic on some roads if you’re out in West Fargo as potholes are being patched up.

West Fargo is cleaning up potholes across the city by cold patching.

“It’s an asphalt additive with additives in it that we use to bond to our cold surfaces… Mostly in the spring when our potholes are really bad,” says West Fargo Street Crew Chief Scott Tiffany.

It’s a cost-effective way to fix roads as the city repairs potholes around the city throughout the coming months.

“Potholes exist from water getting into the asphalt and it creates potholes by popping up the asphalt, the weather flexing of the roads, cold or warmth doesn’t help. Our ground is very unstable here so it moves a lot. Weather at this time of year is always unpredictable, we try to do the best we can,” Tiffany says.

Filling up potholes is usually a quick and repetitive process and the West Fargo crew makes it look easy.

“Basically we’re just trying to fill the holes that have been created from the ice and snow in the wintertime. So, trying to dry out any kind of moisture as best we can and we have some cold patch that we preheat and then we’ll pack it in there,” said West Fargo Operator Cory Ramsey.

They use all kinds of equipment and methods to take down any size of a pothole.

“So the larger potholes, the further we get into the spring, we’re going to start milling them out and we’re going to do actual overlays on the top of them, that way we can try to get rid of them once and for all. A majority of the time that’s why we have our crack sealers out in the spring and this year we’re gonna be running a mastic machine as well to try to get rid of those cracks on the road that cause the void that create potholes down the road,” Tiffany says.

You can expect to slow down in certain areas as the city makes the roads safer.

“13th Avenue right now is really bad. Center Street we were just on, pretty bad. A lot of that, just the asphalt roads, interior roads, they’re getting older and weather doesn’t help them,” said Tiffany.