Road buckles popping up in Columbia: here’s what to do if you see one

With the recent warm weather, road buckles are starting to pop up in and around the City of Columbia.

On Monday, a road blow-up happened on Highway 63 near Vandiver Drive. MoDOT said it was a minor buckle, so crews had it fixed before dark.

Officials with Columbia Public Works said they have had reports of road buckles but couldn’t confirm how many. Officials with Boone County Public Works said they haven’t had any road buckles in the county, so far.

While both the city and MoDOT plan for road buckles, they can put a strain on resources since crews have to immediately drop what they’re doing to repair them. Because they happen so quickly, crews rely on the public to report them.

“If they see something let us know becaue we’re on our roads a lot but we’re not on our roads all the time like the traveling public is,” Jason Shafer, MoDOT District Maintenance Manager, said.

Shafer said road buckles are most common in the late afternoon or early evening. “Just the heat of the day has been working on it all day and it kind of gets to it’s breaking point,” he said.

Road buckles happen when moisture gets into the pavement, and that, along with the hot weather, causes the concrete to try to expand.

“If it had been a wetter spring or summer, so far, we’d probably be seeing more of them,” Shafer said.

You can report road buckles by calling MoDOT at 1-888-ASK-MODOT or the City of Columbia at 1-573-874-CITY (2489).