Pavement Maintenance Before Winter Damage 

ASI Paving tells contractors how to walk the parking lot with property managers ahead of winter weather 

Winter weather often exposes problems hiding in the pavement system: small cracks near an entrance, a pothole that slipped down the maintenance list or standing water collecting in the same low spot after every rainfall. Once temperatures fluctuate above and below freezing, minor issues can quickly turn into larger, more expensive repairs. Water finds its way into cracks, freezes, expands and puts additional stress on the pavement structure. 

That is why winter preparation should begin well before the first freeze. Property and facility managers don’t need to repair every section of pavement at once, but they do need to understand where the lot is vulnerable and where preventive maintenance can help avoid more significant damage in the months ahead. As a paving contractor, you can help them. 

Walk Around the Lot 

The first step is pretty simple: walk the parking lot looking for cracks, potholes, deteriorated patches, open joints along curbs. or alligator cracking. If possible, walk around the pavement after it rains. See where the water collects and pay attention to where water has more of an opportunity to find its way into the pavement. 

Those conditions don’t necessarily mean the pavement needs to be completely replaced, but what they do mean is that it is time to figure out what is happening and what can be done before winter makes it worse. The goal of a pre-winter inspection isn’t to make sure every square foot looks perfect. It’s to find the areas where water can get into the pavement and identify the problems that have the potential to grow. 

Freeze-Thaw Cycles Do the Rest 

Once water gets through cracks or failed patches, it can reach the materials below the surface. When water freezes, it expands by approximately 9% and can create movement and stress within the pavement structure. Once temperatures rise, that expansion disappears and what remains is a weakened area or void. 

Depending on the climate, the process can repeat many times. By spring, when a vehicle drives over a void created by that repeated movement, the pavement may no longer be fully supported. That can lead to larger cracks, potholes and differential settlement between pavement surfaces. This is why a pavement defect that doesn’t look like much in October can become a very different problem by spring.

Don’t Just Fix What Looks the Worst 

When budgets are limited, there is always a question of where to spend the money. The natural answer is usually to fix the worst-looking pavement first. It’s wise to guide your property manager client to move anything that creates a safety or liability concern to the front of the line, such as a pavement failure along an ADA path or a pothole near the main entrance. 

Once those issues are accounted for, property and facility managers should also look at the pavement that is still in relatively good condition. Those are the areas where maintenance dollars can be best spent. 

Pavement that appears to be in fair but still good condition can be preserved for much less money than it would cost to rebuild the area after it fails. Planning for the maintenance budget should involve putting some money into pavement that is still performing. 

Crack Sealing Before Winter 

After identifying the cracks, one of the most important preventive maintenance steps to do before winter is crack sealing, which is what helps keep water out of the pavement in the first place. Timing is critical here. Crack sealing materials need the proper conditions to bond and perform correctly. 

The cracks and pavement surface also need to be properly prepared. Waiting until temperatures have already dropped can make it more difficult to get the work completed under the conditions needed for the treatment to be effective. 

The same mentality applies to sealcoating and restriping. Those treatments can be important parts of a pavement maintenance program, but they also have temperature and curing requirements. 

It is better for a property owner to get that work done earlier in the season and plan ahead for any preventive maintenance, rather than gamble on a warm stretch in November. 

Put the Parking Lot on a Maintenance Schedule 

The other part of preparing for winter is having a plan that goes beyond this year. Too often, pavement maintenance becomes reactive, when it should be a proactive partnership between the contractor and client. Having a consistent two- or three-year maintenance plan can give property and facility managers a clearer picture of what needs immediate attention, what can be preserved and what may require larger capital improvements in the future. Having that information documented makes it much easier to build a budget and to prioritize maintenance.  

Get Ahead of the Damage 

Winter is going to put pavement to the test, but it doesn’t have to be the moment that determines when a parking lot needs major repairs. The pavement weaknesses are usually there before the first freeze. The challenge is to find those issues while there is still something relatively simple and affordable that can be done about them. Once spring arrives and that small crack has become a pothole, the maintenance decision has already been made for you.

Marc Navetta, P.E., is ASI Paving’s vice president of customer engagement with more than 26 years of civil engineering, asphalt standards and project management experience.