Asphalt Repair and Patching in River Falls
Asphalt Repair and Patching in River Falls, Wisconsin.
Pothole, patch and sinkhole repair for commercial lots in River Falls. Saw-cut square, the failed base dug out and rebuilt, the patch compacted flush and the joint sealed.
About an hour and twenty minutes west of Eau Claire on I-94 and Highway 35. The estimate is free.

Working in River Falls
The corporate parks northwest of town take the truck traffic, and the Radio Road interchange put them straight onto Highway 35, so freight reaches them without coming through the city. Whitetail Ridge alone has around a dozen businesses and an estimated 400 employees on it. Where a lot has failed in a driving lane it's the base that's gone, and a patch laid over it comes back in the same spot the following spring. That area gets cut back square to sound asphalt, dug out to something firm, rebuilt and compacted, then hot mix rolled in flush with what's around it.
Filled vs. repaired
The pothole that comes back every spring is being filled rather than repaired. Cold patch is a temporary measure and an honest one when it's sold as that: it's loose material tamped into a hole, with no bond to the sides and nothing done about the failed base underneath. It gets you through a winter. A real repair means cutting a clean square back to material that's still sound, taking out everything soft below it, putting the base back and compacting it in lifts, then laying hot asphalt and rolling it. The patch ends up stronger than what is around it, which is why the failure doesn't come back through the middle of it.
Filled
The quick version
- Cold patch tamped into the hole as found
- Ragged edges, so there's nothing to key against
- Failed base left in place
- Back within a season, usually wider
Repaired
What we do
- Saw cut to clean vertical edges, back to sound asphalt
- Soft material dug out until the bottom is firm
- Base replaced and compacted in lifts
- Hot mix laid, rolled, and the joint sealed
Cold patch has its place: it's the right call in February when nothing else can be done. It's the wrong call in July.
Repair or repave?
Most lots that get deferred don't need repaving.
What we look at before quoting either one.
- Two or three potholes, the rest of the surface is soundStraightforward patching. Nowhere near needing an overlay. Repairable
- The garage apron has sunk where it meets the concreteCommon and fixable. Usually settlement under the transition, cut out and rebuilt. Repairable
- Cracked into squares in a few areas, sound elsewhereCut those areas out full depth, patch, then seal the whole surface. Repairable
- That squared cracking across most of the lotThe base has gone broadly. Patching it becomes a rolling cost with no end. An overlay or a rebuild is the answer. Needs replacement
- Water sits in the same spot after every rainGrade or drainage, and it has to be solved before any surface work, or the new surface fails in exactly the same place. Depends, send a photo
Photos of the worst two areas are usually enough for us to tell you which it is.
What Decides the Price in River Falls
Repairs are priced by area and by how deep the trouble goes, and the depth isn't knowable until it's open. These are the bands most jobs land in.
Single pothole
Up to a few square feet
Measured on site
- Saw cut, dig out, base, hot mix, compact
- Cheaper alongside other work
Failed area or apron
Roughly 50 to 300 sq ft
Measured on site
- The common commercial repair, and the garage apron at home
- Priced per square foot once the area is measured
Sinkhole or subgrade failure
Depth unknown until opened
Measured on site
- Often a drainage or utility problem underneath
- Assessed and quoted before the machine moves
Several repairs on one visit come down substantially per repair, because getting the machine and the crew on site is most of the cost of a small one. If you have three, have them all looked at.
How the Work Goes in River Falls
Same method on a driveway apron and on a loading dock approach.
Find the edge of the failure
The visible hole is smaller than the damage. We sound out where the surface is still supported and cut outside that, not around the hole.
Saw cut square, clean vertical faces
A patch cut tight against a clean edge stays. A patch feathered against a ragged one fails at the joint, which is why so many patches fail in a ring.
Dig out to something firm
Everything soft comes out. If the bottom is wet, that's a drainage problem and the best patch in the world won't last sitting on water.
Base back in, compacted in lifts
Compacted in layers rather than dumped and rolled once. This is the invisible step that decides whether the repair lasts two years or twenty.
Hot mix, rolled, joint sealed
Laid to the surrounding grade so water still runs where it's supposed to, compacted, and the perimeter joint sealed against the next freeze.
Questions We Get in River Falls
What River Falls calls us about, answered straight.
More questions answeredRiver Falls is off the interstate. Do you still come out here?
How much does pothole repair cost?
Why does my patch keep failing?
Can you repair a sinkhole in a driveway or lot?
Is it cheaper to repair the asphalt or repave it?
How soon can we drive on a new asphalt patch?
The Lots and Surfaces in River Falls
River Falls is a city of about 17,800 straddling the Pierce and St. Croix county line, on the Kinnickinnic River south of the interstate. It's about 63 miles from Eau Claire, an hour and twenty minutes out I-94 and down Highway 35, and the city puts itself five minutes off the interstate and thirty from downtown St. Paul. Highways 29, 35 and 65 all serve it. The University of Wisconsin-River Falls is here, with about 5,300 students.
Four named parks hold the industrial ground. Mann Valley Corporate Park on the northwest side is the biggest inside the city limits, more than 200 acres zoned for office and light industrial with a single 155-acre lot in it. Sterling Ponds Corporate Park has four lots left over 15 acres, Whitetail Ridge Corporate Park has two lots over 12.5 acres with roughly a dozen businesses and an estimated 400 employees already on it, and the older River Falls Industrial Park has a three-acre lot and an area zoned heavy industrial. The Radio Road interchange, built in 2014, puts all of them straight onto Highway 35.
The rest of the commercial surface is the campus and the hospital. UW-River Falls runs about 5,300 students and opened a science and technology center in 2026, the largest construction project in the university's history. Allina Health's River Falls Area Hospital is on East Division Street, with two more clinics in town. River Falls High School is on Cemetery Road with about 1,100 students, and Chippewa Valley Technical College has a branch campus here. Foley United, Interfacial Solutions and Rush River Brewing are among the businesses the city puts on its own site.
Where we work in River Falls
- Mann Valley Corporate Park
- Sterling Ponds Corporate Park
- Whitetail Ridge Corporate Park
- River Falls Industrial Park
- The UW-River Falls campus
Around River Falls: The Kinnickinnic River through downtown, Glen Park and the swinging bridge, Hoffman Park, The Falls Theater, The Falcon Center on the UW-River Falls campus.
17,802 people, 2024 Census estimate.
The Pierce County soil survey puts the largest areas of sandy outwash in the valley of the Kinnickinnic, and Waukesha silt loam, a terrace soil laid down as stream terrace and outwash, occurs principally in the township of River Falls. Sand and silt loam don't hold water the same way, and a lot can have both under it.
Get a Free Estimate in River Falls
Tell us what it looks like and we'll come measure it. You get a written price before anything starts.
(715) 450-9897- Free on commercial lots and properties in River Falls
- A photo of the problem helps, and it can go in the message
- Surfaces that are not ready yet get told so at the estimate
Get an estimate
Send the form and we'll call you back. The estimate is free.
Other Work We Do in River Falls
- Sealcoating in River Falls
- Crack Filling and Sealing in River Falls
- Catch Basin Repair in River Falls
- Parking Lot Striping in River Falls
- Track and Athletic Surfaces in River Falls
- Concrete in River Falls
- Asphalt Paving in River Falls
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Everything about asphalt repair and patching, including how the work goes and what changes the price



