State maintenance crews were able to fix a large problem pothole Wednesday morning near the interchange of the Parks and Glenn highways that disabled several vehicles overnight, but it may not be the last pothole to cause issues in Southcentral Alaska with heavy rain expected to continue through next week.
"We anticipate that there will be more potholes forming with the additional rain," state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities spokesperson Shannon McCarthy said. "We will be working on (this) area this evening to fill in any additional damage and then again tomorrow morning -- basically we will keep working on filling the holes until it stops raining."
Alaska State Troopers spokesperson Tim DeSpain said troopers were first informed of the pothole, in the southbound lane of the Parks between Trunk Road and the Palmer exit, around 5 a.m. Wednesday. He said some of the affected areas were down to one lane early in the morning but most traffic restrictions had ended by 8:30 a.m. A trooper was deployed for two hours to warn drivers.
According to McCarthy, the hole was filled by 9 a.m.
Darin Minkler, a driver with Palmer-based Matanuska Towing and Recovery, said he was among three drivers from the company who responded to the area at about midnight -- along with trucks from at least three other companies.
According to Minkler, affected drivers reported hitting "one giant pothole" in the area.
"One of the customers said it was the size of Montana," Minkler said.
Steve Banse, the Mat-Su regional maintenance superintendent for DOT, said the worst areas included the highway interchange and the first mile along the Parks Highway toward Wasilla.
The potholes were pre-existing rough spots that were aggravated by the heavy rainfall seen in much of Southcentral Alaska. The state had contracted Quality Asphalt Paving to repair the affected areas, but the weather placed a hold on the work.
"As long as it rains, they can't pave," Banse said.
But overall road conditions at the interchange are expected to improve over the next year. DOT already has a contractor on board to begin what McCarthy called a "pavement preservation project," which will fill in ruts and add 2 inches of additional pavement, McCarthy said.
"However, the contractor has to wait until the rain stops to start filling in the ruts and complete the initial layer of pavement," McCarthy wrote in an email.