Here’s why US-119 near Julian buckled from excessive heat

CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) — Now that emergency repairs on a path of Corridor G are complete, some may be wondering how a road can buckle from excessive heat.

A patch of the roadway near Water Ways by Big Pinnacle Branch Road in Julian on Tuesday buckled causing a large break in the road. This caused a shutdown of both northbound lanes.

The buckle was caused by the heating of concrete as U.S. 119 is made of concrete slabs. This resulted in the West Virginia Department of Transportation to begin emergency repairs.

Joe Pack, P.E., WVDOH Chief Engineer of Operations explained that when concrete gets hot it expands, which causes the concrete slabs to press against one another. But in the case of extreme heat, the slabs can expand more than the expansion joints can sustain, which causes what is known as a “blow up.”

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