8News asked an expert, ‘Do you know how a sinkhole is formed?’

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) —Do you know how a pothole is formed? 8News is talking to the experts to learn the answer.

“Well, a pothole can be several different things depending on the material underneath,” said T.J Waycaster-the owner and operator of Waycaster Enterprise .

Waycaster has been repairing roads throughout the commonwealth for almost 30 years.

“A pothole can come from debris in the material when it’s actually being paved,” said Waycaster. It starts out as maybe a piece of rubber or anything like that. And as traffic travels over it, it just gets bigger, bigger and bigger.”

The road repair expert also says both potholes and sinkholes can be the result of many different things. He says that even though there are different ways a pothole can be formed, there is usually one common denominator.

“Well, water is one of the strongest things! if you get the amount of rain we’ve had this year, and it fills a ditch up all the way and water’s running down the road. That’s a lot of pressure. it’s going to find the weak point and that water is going to channel, said Waycaster.”

Waycaster says that most of the time drivers won’t be able to see a sinkhole forming on the road, and if they do happen to see it, sometimes it may be too late.

“Sometimes you will see flexes in the in the road, it’s like driving on a waterbed,” said Waycaster. “Something’s wrong underneath this subgrade, as we call it, is bad. You know, something there is giving the integrity, away.”

Safety on the job is also key. Waycaster also mentioned that to avoid people driving over instability he tries to have law enforcement at the site of a road project in order to help protect his crews as they make repairs.

Waycaster said “people respect the blue lights more than they do the yellow lights; you know? And so, some people understand. And some people just don’t want to be inconvenienced.”

He adds the other two top contributors to potholes forming are the speed and frequency of cars driving through. He also says don’t think just because a pothole is on a less-traveled road that the ground underneath it is any safer.

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