THE UNDERLYING ISSUE

A friend of mine recently asked me for some advice. Knowing that I had raised a daughter (who is now an adult). He wanted to get my perspective on an issue he was trying to work through with his young daughter. He said she had recently received a certificate award from her elementary school, but when they were praising her she didn't seem to be very happy about it. My friend said he tried explaining to her that it was not bragging but it was okay to celebrate your successes. He said that she still seemed very passive about receiving the award and he couldn't figure out why!

This being my friend's first daughter, I think he thought it just might be one of those emotional girl things that he wasn't sure how to approach (and he did say she was very moody for a 10-year-old, lol). I told him that like most problems there seems to always be an underlying issue. In this case, it happened to be that kids were making fun of her as the teacher's pet and she just didn't want the attention so she wouldn't be made fun of anymore.

I share this simple story with you, 1: as a way to make it relative to everyone, but 2: to share with you in my line of work another type of underlying issue that fits more appropriately with what we are seeing on our roadways every day. According to the ASTM standard, roadway distress number 01 is called Fatigue or "Alligator Cracking". This distress is caused by fatigue failure of the asphalt concrete surface under repeated traffic loading. We can try to apply some type of crack filler or seal coating to help keep the water out and the cracks from spreading. However, these are just some stop-gap measures to buy time but don't address the underlying issue! The bandaid over the bullethole if you will.

Eventually, the asphalt will need to be removed, the sub-base will need to be strengthened and modified appropriately. The right treatment to the right pavement at the right time will provide that long-term solution and a win-win for the taxpayer and the municipality. As in everyday life, once we dig deep enough and find the underlying issue, we can start to address the real issue, and maybe someday get a certificate without being the teacher's pet!