What misperceptions, if any, does the general public have in regards to road repair and construction?
The public has a number of misperceptions about highway construction and repair. Particularly in the State of Illinois, the Department of Transportation is dealing with conditions that make construction of highways difficult. People go to other states and perceive better, longer lasting highways, and wonder what’s wrong with Illinois. First, in our state we are blessed with great farmland and soil. But this a lot different than the underlying rock of say a Missouri or Wisconsin, so our soil conditions are great for farming but not for road construction. Then in Illinois we have undesirable freeze/thaw cycling during the winter. That is, the moisture on the road surfaces thaws during the day, penetrating the cracks in pavement, then freezes at night expanding the water in and under the roadway, thus deteriorating the road. A significant amount of damage to highways is caused by the heavy loads that trucks carry on our highways. Illinois has a tremendous number of trucks crossing our sta
