‘It can be quite violent’: Manitoba roads buckling under extreme heat

Manitoba roadways were one of the victims of the extreme heat over the weekend, as several required repairs after they buckled from being too hot.

Manitoba roadways were one of the victims of the extreme heat over the weekend, as several required repairs after they buckled from being too hot. Michelle Stainton, the project management engineer for the City of Winnipeg’s public works department, said concrete expands in the heat, and because of its brittle nature, it can buckle or blow up if it expands too much. That’s why some roadways and sidewalks throughout Winnipeg and the province might be sticking up a little higher than usual.

“It will withstand a lot of these expansions until it can’t, and then it will pop up quite suddenly,” said Stainton. “It can be quite violent.” She said the city usually deals with a couple buckled roads every year.

While the city doesn’t specifically track buckled roads, a spokesperson for the city said emergency maintenance crews can’t keep up with the demand. “They continue to respond. The south end of the city seems to be the worst at the moment,” the spokesperson said.

Stainton said roads buckling are very random and unpredictable, adding several factors go into a road finally giving way, with prolonged heat being one of the main reasons. “Concrete heats not just from the air temperature but also from solar radiation absorption, and if it’s 35, 36, 37 out, the concrete can be like more than 50 C. So it’s absorbing a lot of heat, and I mean, it doesn’t expand a lot, but it doesn’t take much if it’s brittle.”

The city does put small joints in the road to give the concrete some space to go if it does expand, but Stainton said buckling is still possible. According to the province, a number of roads require repairs due to buckling on Sunday, including main routes like the Trans-Canada Highway and the west Perimeter Highway. Other roadways repaired were PTH75, PTH 59 South, PTH 7, PTH 8 and PTH 30.

A provincial spokesperson said there are currently no ongoing provincial road or highway closures due to pavement buckling. “All highway buckles identified by maintenance crews have their lanes immediately closed off with barricades in place. Traffic is then directed around the area of concern until the roadway is safe to be reopened,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

“All drivers should drive to the conditions and be aware of roadway buckles during extreme heat events.”