Sections of Interstate 83 have large potholes. PennDOT has an $11 million plan to repair and resurface the highway between Shrewsbury and Loganville.


A recent WGAL program showed PennDOT making repairs on I-83 north between exit 21 and Emigsville. What was most unusual was the crew was placing hot asphalt over a very wet roadway and one of the crew saying how this would last as a permanent fix.

Everyone knows having lived in this state that they have most likely seen the same roads being fixed over and over continually.

As a former major construction engineer, most highway specifications do not allow paving with asphalt, an oil based product, over wet pavement. I know the weather forecast was probably wrong on that day because I was planning to put down a product which required a dry surface and temperature over 50 degrees.

However, what I saw on that TV program was so far from being a lasting repair that I think PennDOT should start explaining why this state has so many roads under continuous repair and many surrounding states seem to get job done correctly the first time. Maybe we need to make the contractors guarantee their work and make any repairs at their expense for a period of 5 years.

These are taxpayer dollars being wasted.

Robert Jasper

Manchester Township

Read or Share this story: