Soaring temperatures caused pavement to buckle Tuesday evening on three highways in Dodge County, forcing emergency repairs and temporary closures.

"It's extreme heat and concrete pavement; unfortunately when the temperature gets above 90 degrees we can expect (buckling) somewhere every time," said Dodge County Highway Commissioner Brian Field.

Field said that extreme heat causes the concrete slabs to expand and push against each other, and, "the only way to yield is up."

Highway crews responded to six areas of Highway 151 that buckled near Beaver Dam Tuesday evening. The emergency repair work required temporary closure of one, and in some instances, both lanes of traffic.

A portion of Highway 151 also buckled Monday evening.

Highway crews responded Tuesday evening to a portion of Highway 33 that buckled between Beaver Dam and Fox Lake, and a portion of Highway M that buckled near Highway 151.

Field said repairing the buckled highways is a relatively quick, albeit temporary, fix. Highway crews remove loose chunks of concrete and pour asphalt into the gaps.

The problem, Field said, is that buckling typically occurs later in the afternoon when traffic is heaviest.

"The pavement gets about as hot as its going to later in the day, and that's when problems begin to show," he said.

Field asks motorists to be vigilant of highway crews making repairs.

"Our crews have to respond to basically an emergency. Sometimes advance warning is there, but it may be a temporary sign. So if people would pay attention to that and slow down immediately or pull over, their cooperation would be appreciated," he said.

Field said that the temporary repairs of buckled highways will have to be made more permanent later in the season, however, it shouldn't have a major effect on the highway department budget.

"These are state highways. I'm sure they anticipate to some degree that they're going to have repairs on this type of pavement," he said.

amartin@capitalnewspapers.com