SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – Whether it’s the spilled beverage or a popped tire, residents or those traveling through the Tahoe region have likely encountered pothole and crack ridden roads.

It’s no new challenge maintaining roads with the extreme weather conditions in the region, from hot temperatures in the summer to numerous thaw and freeze periods in the winter.

Throw chains and snow plows on top of that and the roads render that commuter’s cup of coffee spill-worthy.

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After years of the same cycle, it begs the question: Is there a solution?

The City of South Lake Tahoe’s City Council discussed the issue at their meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 10.

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“It just seems that the life duration that we’re getting out of the pavement isn’t what we ought to be seeing from the asphalt,” Councilmember Scott Robbins said at the meeting. “I understand we’re in a difficult climate condition, but it seems that we should be getting more years out of the pavement than two years before stuff starts falling apart again.”

A presentation from CalTrans personnel provided some insight on the issue, although not much of a solution. “We’re going to keep getting these issues,” CalTrans District 3 Pavement Program Advisor, Manjot Gill, said. “It’s unavoidable until we come up with a more innovative strategy to address these issues. It’s just a pavement management cycle that we’re going to have to go through.”

The advisor said CalTrans see these issues in all their snow communities.

Most of the roads going through South Lake Tahoe are made of an asphalt surface. One question raised is whether a better surface material could be its alternative, concrete. “If you put concrete pavement out there, the water is still going to get through the joints.”

And water getting through the joints and freezing, Gill said, is what sets motion to the issues, “…and then it just goes from there.”

Although having higher durability and a longer life in the long run, requiring less repairs, concrete comes with other consideration. One of these considerations is CalTrans’ maintenance department having less capacity to keep pace with concrete repairs versus asphalt repairs. Asphalt repairs can be done faster, are less expensive and require less road closures.

So, their crews can get to those potholes and seal cracks faster, with less road interuptions.

Gill also explained, “We don’t want to create issues that weren’t existing before.” The advisor’s presentation revealed concrete pavement does not have the same traction asphalt pavement does. “Let’s say in town, you want to put in concrete pavement and make it slippery and create accident issues out there.”

Concrete’s property of warming slower than black asphalt adds to its slickness as well, although concrete is less prone to rutting. Asphalt, however, does crack less and also provides less road noise.

Concrete installation costs $1.8 million per lane mile and $154,000 per lane mile while, asphalt costs $1 million to install per lane mile and $111,000 to maintain per lane mile.

“I think the biggest question was, why does CalTrans use asphalt pavement in South Lake Tahoe?” Gill prefaced and answered, “The biggest thing is ease of maintenance and pavement repair.”

Gill explained CalTrans surveys pavement conditions every two years and the department takes measures to address issues in as timely a manner as possible.

Ideas offered at the meeting included one solution that would rid the need for snowplows and chains all together.

Mayor Cody Bass pointed to certain regions of the world using geothermal hydronics to heat their roads and inquired if concrete or asphalt would be a better material to use in tandem with that technology.

“Hydronics and geothermal are very new ideas,” Gill said, explaining it would take time to research that. “It’s not just getting the pavement out there.” Capacity would have to be built to create technical expertise needed maintain it.

“I think there’s such big cost savings if we were able to eliminate the dump trucks having to haul that snow away, the public safety improvements that we could see by not having iced roadways and just a lot of things,” the Mayor said.

Council requested staff bring back a request for proposal for a consultant to look into what geothermal possibilities are feasible at least in the Heavenly Village area, starting with first looking at whether geothermal pockets could heat boilers efficiently there, which Bass said the city currently spends unbelievable amounts of money on natural gas to heat.

Both the full presentation and discussion are available on City of South Lake Tahoe’s website, cityofslt.us.