Trucks behaving badly on area roads this morning

Massachusetts has been using on their Interstates for the past several years is relatively coarse, with lots of voids under the surface. It's known in the trade as "Graded friction course".

The benefit of this type of pavement is that it allows water to easily drain during rainstorms - cross over from Attleboro into Pawtucket on I-95 on a rainy day, and you'll immediately notice a change in the amount of standing water on the road surface - Rhode Island doesn't use "graded friction course" pavement on their Interstates.

The industrial ink that spilled this morning, although not toxic or otherwise an environmental threat, is still a very thick and slippery substance that doesn't evaporate easily. Therefore, it is logical to assume that, once the ink became trapped in this coarse and void-filled pavement, it couldn't be removed by conventional means (i.e. the "use sand or kitty litter as a huge blotter and soak it up" method).

Leaving the ink-soaked pavement "as-is" would render the drainage capabilites of the pavement ineffective, resulting in a road surface that can't drain water and is also slippery because of the trapped ink that can't easily evaporate.

Given this, IMO, digging up the pavement and replacing it is actually a logical and rational course of action. And it's only 500 feet of roadway - think of it as patching a very large pothole. Let's just hope they can get the work done before it starts raining (or snowing) late this evening.