Open Letter To Every Winterland DOT

Photo/Hollyn Johnson

Dear Department of Transportation:

Do you have winter where you are? Do you have potholes and ’D-cracking’*? I want to share a powerful secret with you. This secret will magically expand your maintenance budget. It will make your road projects endure much longer. Your stakeholders will love you. Your neighboring DOTs will be jealous of you. The secret is shockingly simple; and simple to implement. The secret is just one word: TAR.

TAR is not an acronym. Tar is a black sticky stuff. Tar is pretty cheap. Here’s how to use tar.

When you have a joint in concrete paving, tar it.

When you have a crack in concrete paving, tar it.

When you fill a pothole in concrete paving, tar its perimeter.

The beauty of tar is that just about anyone can do it. You just pour it into or onto the joint. You might have to do it every year, but it costs a fraction of re-doing the repair or replacing the concrete.

I hope you are as excited to learn this secret as I am to share it with you.

Your humble servant,

Rick Wolnitzek, Architekwiki



* D-cracking is the phenomenon where the bottom of a concrete slab deteriorates from freezing and thawing of water entering through a joint or crack. The deteriorated area resembles a ’D’ as it works its way toward the surface of the slab.