Portion of Gene Field Road under construction

By Harry Loomis

Potholes and a deteriorating layer of concrete beneath the pavement have brought on extensive repairs to Gene Field Road between Woodbine Road and the Belt Highway.

“The base of that road is bad in some spots,” said Abe Forney, director of St. Joseph Public Works and Transportation. “That’s why you see those stoplights. Our guys are going out there and tearing out the base and putting good concrete in there. When Herzog does the overlay next year that it’ll have a good base for that surface.”

As part of the repair, temporary stoplights have been added where work is ongoing, as the road turns to one lane. The stoplight at Gene Field and Woodbine is currently blinking to prevent further traffic.

The road noticeably saw many potholes after the severe cold and snowy stretch a few weeks ago, prompting action to be taken.

“When it gets really cold like it did and that moisture is in that asphalt and then it freezes and then thaws and the snow plows go over the top of it, it just busts out,” Forney said. “We have to fix the asphalt when those potholes are created. It’s been kind of nice to get some of this warm weather after that cold stretch that we had, so we’re getting some work done when we can.”

Work will continue headed west toward the Belt.

“It’s going to be a while because we’ve got a lot of bad spots on Gene Field that we’ve got to get fixed,” Forney said. “I anticipate another couple of weeks of working on Gene Field to make it good.”