Pavement distresses accumulate as asphalt pavements age and traffic pounds them. If timely maintenance isn’t performed, distresses are compounded. Cracks become potholes and potholes become craters.

This article uses information from “MS-16 Asphalt in Pavement Preservation and Maintenance” to provide practical information about methods, procedures and terminology for properly sealing cracks and patching potholes. According to Larry Galehouse, director of the National Center for Pavement Preservation (NCPP), more and more private companies and local road agencies are conducting training sessions about methods and procedures to maintain and preserve asphalt pavements.

“The cost of addressing minor deficiencies is much less than addressing major deficiencies,” says Galehouse. “We have to do road maintenance when the roads are in fair-to-good condition, rather than waiting until they are in poor condition.”

Galehouse says it takes far fewer dollars to fix a good road in need of some maintenance rather than rehabilitating a bad road in need of a lot of maintenance. “Road agencies just don’t have the money to reconstruct bad roads anymore,” he adds.

A good time to do crack sealing is when an asphalt road or street is in fair to good condition. Along with proper drainage, crack sealing is probably the single most important maintenance activity. Most pavement distresses can be related to the intrusion of water into the pavement structure. If water is kept out of the pavement, the majority of distresses can be stopped or delayed.