Summer monsoon adding to ADOT’s workload

PHOENIX — This is normally the time of year when Arizona Department of Transportation crews are clearing winter debris and fixing potholes, but the monsoon season is complicating things.

The heavy rainfall has crews working to keep up with flooding, mudslides and rockslides in addition to patching up the pavement.

ADOT’s Dustin Krugel said crews have done a great job keeping up with repairing potholes on Interstate 40 from Kingman to Flagstaff, which is prone to potholes because the main route across the northern part of the state receives a lot of winter snowfall.

Krugel said lightning has also been an issue for construction workers.

“We had blasting that was scheduled to run between midnight and 3 a.m. and [because of ]the impending lightning we bumped the blasting up a bit. You never know what’s going to happen this time of the year with the monsoon.”