CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – If you’ve traveled between Clarksville and Nashville on I-24 lately you know that the roadway is riddled with potholes that sometimes seem like they are reaching up and grabbing your tires.
A lot of motorists are wondering what the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) is doing to tackle the problem so Clarksvillenow.com sat down with Luis Pisarra, Operations District Supervisor for TDOT to find out more about pothole repairs.
One of the biggest issues at this time is that all of the asphalt plants in the area are closed for the winter season and the work that crews are doing between Clarksville and Nashville on potholes is just a temporary fix.
“Right now we are doing a lot of temporary patches. We’re using what they call cold mix until the plants can open up March 15 in our area. For now we have crews out there daily, weather-permitting, and we’re patching between here and Nashville and doing the best that we can,” Pisarra said.
The cold mix can be used in all types of weather conditions and Pisarra says it is fairly effective, but the patches can pop out easily during periods of rain and freezing weather.
“If I could get fresh asphalt the repairs would last a lot longer,” he said.
TDOT crews also only work from 9 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. each day on repairing potholes so the work doesn’t interfere with the heavier morning or afternoon traffic and helps avoid backups.
At this time, potholes can be found on I-24 every 100 to 200 feet, according to TDOT estimates.
Pisarra said TDOT has been getting a lot of calls from commuters telling them about the locations of potholes.
“The callers have been wonderful and very patient and we appreciate that,” he said.
He asked drivers to be patient, drive safely, and move over for workers because they are trying to get things fixed as soon as possible.