English

Hot weather affects Belarusian roads, official says

The hot weather that has engulfed Belarus affects the country’s roads, Alyaksandr Halawnyow, a senior official at the transport ministry’s road maintenance and construction department (Belawtadar), told reporters in Minsk on July 20, as quoted by BelaPAN.

In prolonged hot conditions, road surface temperatures heat up and, eventually, bitumen can become so soft that it starts to become unstable, Mr. Halawnyow said.

The official described restrictions on traffic as an efficient measure, though unpopular. Other measures, including the cooling of road surfaces with water, are inefficient, he said.

Roads with bituminous surfaces deteriorate after a while because of the material`s properties and weather effects, Mr. Halawnyow said. “We can build roads with cement concrete surfaces, but it will be an absolutely different level of comfort,” he said. “The material is tough. You will bounce on it all the time.”