City of Norfolk discusses state of roads

NORFOLK, Neb. -- Officials with the City of Norfolk are opening up about the overall health of its roads around the northeast Nebraska community.

If you live in Norfolk, there’s a good chance you’ve seen come across potholes. Some people would probably guess they’re most common in the winter months, but actually that’s not the case.

Spring is the primary time for potholes to form. Why?

According to a WeatherWorks, it’s because of the melting that takes place due to temperatures fluctuating above and below the freezing point.

Another question you might be wondering. Have Norfolk’s roads gotten worse or better over the last five years?

A city engineer for the city Steven Rames said it goes both ways.

“Where we have potholes [and] where there’s already distress in that pavement, those sections have gotten worse,” he said. “The overall system change in our total systems payment condition I would say has gone up.”

Rames said over the years the city has done temporary repairs to the majority of its potholes but not permanent repairs.

He said the city is starting to reassess some things.

“We’ve been working with our maintenance department with rethinking about how we tackle potholes,” Rames said. “Last year was the first year we really started to implement changes around that.”

Despite numerous roadways that need fixing, Rames is confident the city is on the right path to get its roads back to normal.

“We’re on a positive trend,” Rames said. “We’re on a positive trend of understanding what the issue is, understanding what we need to do to correct that issue, changing our practices within our maintenance program, and now the question is coming up with the funding to make the corrections.”