{"id":4827,"date":"2026-07-07T09:37:40","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T09:37:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=4827"},"modified":"2026-07-07T09:37:40","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T09:37:40","slug":"as-climate-change-damages-streets-and-highways-the-road-ahead-may-be-expensive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=4827","title":{"rendered":"As climate change damages streets and highways, the road ahead may be expensive"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A heat wave scorched much of the eastern United States over the Fourth of July weekend, bringing extreme temperatures that caused roads to buckle, snarling holiday traffic.<\/p>

Read more Heirs of \u2018odious\u2019 167-year-old Supreme Court ruling see modern parallels<\/a><\/p>

Nowhere was this more dramatic than on a stretch of concrete-paved Interstate 97 south of Baltimore, where one lane of traffic suddenly warped, forcing its closure. A city street in Chicago experienced a similar, though less dramatic, pavement failure, and several state departments of transportation warned motorists to watch for additional heat-related road damage.<\/p>

Scientists say such heat waves are becoming more common and more intense. Climate change is driving more extreme temperatures, along with heavier rainfall. Both can contribute to pavements expanding and cracking, making roads temporarily impassable as they await expensive repairs. It raises the question: Are the nation’s roads ready to meet the challenge of a warmer, wetter future?<\/p>\n

Civil engineers say the answers aren’t entirely straightforward.<\/p>

\n
\n\n
\n
\"A<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

Weather <\/h3>\n

Why is extreme heat causing roads to buckle in multiple states?<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n

What is happening to the nation’s roads?<\/h3>

Heat-related road failure occurs when moisture-weakened pavement gets hot, expands, buckles and warps \u2014 especially if the high temperatures last for several days, according to Charles Marohn, founder and president of the Minnesota-based Strong Towns, a nonprofit that advocates for more resilient and safer urban areas.<\/p>

When water gets underneath a roadway, “it’ll get a little bit squishy, and instead of being firm, it’ll start to move a little bit,” Marohn says. That weakens the pavement \u2014 and when it expands, it breaks.<\/p>

“You take that prolonged period of just intense heat, a lot of traffic on top of it, and that’s when you have something like this happen,” Charlie Gischlar, a spokesperson for the Maryland Department of Transportation, says about the I-97 incident in Baltimore.<\/p>

Amit Bhasin, a professor of civil, architectural and environmental engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, says it’s typically a problem with concrete \u2014 also known as rigid \u2014 pavement. To account for expansion, steel rebar or expansion joints between concrete panels can be added, he says.<\/p>

But as anyone who has driven down such highways can attest, the rhythmic clack-clack sound of expansion joints built into the pavement can be annoying for motorists.<\/p>\n\n

“You don’t want to provide too much of it because then you affect ride quality,” says Bhasin, who is also the director of the university’s Center for Transportation Research. But too little means “it expands more than what it’s designed for, [so] it’s going to buckle.”<\/p>

Asphalt, the sticky, black substance used to coat many roads, acts differently. “What you see is [that] \u2026 ruts form, especially in slow-moving traffic areas,” he says. “It tends to be \u2026 like a liquid under a hot summer afternoon.”<\/p>

Read more Could this anti-aging dog pill lead to one for you too?<\/a><\/p>

Marohn says asphalt is typically less durable, but easier to repair, while concrete has a longer service life before failing. But when concrete does fail, he says, “it goes really bad, really quick.”<\/p>

\n
\n\n
\n
\"The<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

Weather <\/h3>\n

The days are hot, but so are the nights. That’s a problem, experts say<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n

What can be done?<\/h3>

While concrete highways typically cost more to build, they tend to last longer and require less maintenance over their lifetime, Bhasin says. Asphalt roads, by contrast, are less expensive up front but generally need more frequent repairs and resurfacing.<\/p>

“Any time you design an asphalt or concrete mix, you’re designing for a certain range of temperatures,” Marohn says. Extreme events expose the limits of those assumptions,” he says. Under normal conditions, a pavement might perform just fine, but when temperatures fall outside the expected range, problems start to appear.<\/p>

For some roads, a more durable \u2014 and more expensive \u2014 blend of asphalt might be the solution, engineers say. For rigid roads, “if you’re using reinforced steel, then you would want to consider different percentages of steel reinforcement,” Bhasin says. “If you’re applying joints, then perhaps [engineers could use] \u2026 a slightly different joint spacing … or changing the size of the panels themselves.”<\/p>

The biggest problem is weather and climate data \u2014 or a lack thereof \u2014 but “if there is a trend that predicts different kinds of extreme event scenarios, then those should be incorporated into the pavement design,” Bhasin says. “Engineers have figured this out, and they can design it. They just need to know what to go off of.”<\/p>\n

Anyone can design super-robust roads, he says. “We could be very conservative and say, ‘OK, let’s design for extreme events,'” he says. But the cost would be higher. “So you have to make the call that ‘I’ll be OK if 99% of the time this works and maybe 1% of the time the traffic is disrupted.”<\/p>

\n
\n\n
\n
\"Lima,<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

The Americas <\/h3>\n

Scientists warn ‘Godzilla’ El Ni\u00f1o could intensify climate impacts worldwide<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n

“In many ways, we’ve designed our infrastructures over decades, if not centuries, for temperatures that have been relatively milder,” Mikhail Chester, a professor of engineering at Arizona State University, told NPR’s recently. “Now, as temperatures are hotter, you’re starting to see the dynamics of those extremes take hold, exceeding the design thresholds of those infrastructures and their particular assets.”<\/p>

Chester says the way the country has approached infrastructure, such as roads, in the past “doesn’t seem to be sufficient” for the future. What’s needed is a pivot. “And that’s going to require us to innovate, which we are doing. It’s going to require us to share that knowledge, which we’re starting to do.”<\/p>

Read more We\u2019re in a renter\u2019s market (believe it or not)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Heat waves are becoming more common and intense as a result of climate change \u2014 and roads are suffering as a result. Are the nation’s roads up to meeting the challenge of a warmer, wetter future?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1095,904],"class_list":["post-4827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-fury-road","tag-heat-waves"],"yoast_head":"\nAs climate change damages streets and highways, the road ahead may be expensive - Best USA Movers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=4827\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"As climate change damages streets and highways, the road ahead may be expensive - Best USA Movers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Heat waves are becoming more common and intense as a result of climate change \u2014 and roads are suffering as a result. Are the nation's roads up to meeting the challenge of a warmer, wetter future?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=4827\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Best USA Movers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-07T09:37:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/c69a9f6072599ebd539fee16f64e531a.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"568\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/?p=4827#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/?p=4827\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3f4fef4452a41b72c331a70422221f40\"},\"headline\":\"As climate change damages streets and highways, the road ahead may be expensive\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-07T09:37:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/?p=4827\"},\"wordCount\":961,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/?p=4827#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/bb287b554e24fd6831605d56ebe29f59-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"fury road\",\"heat waves\"],\"articleSection\":[\"National\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/?p=4827#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/?p=4827\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/?p=4827\",\"name\":\"As climate change damages streets and highways, the road ahead may be expensive - Best USA Movers\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/?p=4827#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/?p=4827#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/bb287b554e24fd6831605d56ebe29f59-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-07T09:37:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3f4fef4452a41b72c331a70422221f40\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/?p=4827#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/?p=4827\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/?p=4827#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/bb287b554e24fd6831605d56ebe29f59-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/bb287b554e24fd6831605d56ebe29f59-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Construction crews work to repair a road that was damaged from the heat in Houston, Texas on June 27, 2023. A dangerous and prolonged heat wave blanketed large parts of the southern US on Tuesday, buckling highways and forcing people into air-conditioned shelters as temperatures soared past 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46 Celsius). Excessive heat warnings were in place from Arizona in the southwest all the way to Alabama in the southeast, with south and central Texas and the Lower Mississippi Valley worst hit, the National Weather Service said. (Photo by Mark Felix \\\/ AFP) (Photo by MARK FELIX\\\/AFP via Getty Images)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/?p=4827#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"As climate change damages streets and highways, the road ahead may be expensive\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Best USA Movers\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3f4fef4452a41b72c331a70422221f40\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"As climate change damages streets and highways, the road ahead may be expensive - Best USA Movers","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=4827","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"As climate change damages streets and highways, the road ahead may be expensive - Best USA Movers","og_description":"Heat waves are becoming more common and intense as a result of climate change \u2014 and roads are suffering as a result. Are the nation's roads up to meeting the challenge of a warmer, wetter future?","og_url":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=4827","og_site_name":"Best USA Movers","article_published_time":"2026-07-07T09:37:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":568,"url":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/c69a9f6072599ebd539fee16f64e531a.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=4827#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=4827"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3f4fef4452a41b72c331a70422221f40"},"headline":"As climate change damages streets and highways, the road ahead may be expensive","datePublished":"2026-07-07T09:37:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=4827"},"wordCount":961,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=4827#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/bb287b554e24fd6831605d56ebe29f59-scaled.jpg","keywords":["fury road","heat waves"],"articleSection":["National"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=4827#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=4827","url":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=4827","name":"As climate change damages streets and highways, the road ahead may be expensive - Best USA Movers","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=4827#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=4827#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/bb287b554e24fd6831605d56ebe29f59-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2026-07-07T09:37:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3f4fef4452a41b72c331a70422221f40"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=4827#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=4827"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=4827#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/bb287b554e24fd6831605d56ebe29f59-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/bb287b554e24fd6831605d56ebe29f59-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707,"caption":"Construction crews work to repair a road that was damaged from the heat in Houston, Texas on June 27, 2023. A dangerous and prolonged heat wave blanketed large parts of the southern US on Tuesday, buckling highways and forcing people into air-conditioned shelters as temperatures soared past 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46 Celsius). Excessive heat warnings were in place from Arizona in the southwest all the way to Alabama in the southeast, with south and central Texas and the Lower Mississippi Valley worst hit, the National Weather Service said. (Photo by Mark Felix \/ AFP) (Photo by MARK FELIX\/AFP via Getty Images)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=4827#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"As climate change damages streets and highways, the road ahead may be expensive"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/","name":"Best USA Movers","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3f4fef4452a41b72c331a70422221f40","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/bestusamoverss.com"],"url":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}