Hope they were OK.

It's all about sticking the landing.

Did a google search for more stories as described in the OP and came across a website that blames it on Planet X


I won't post a link to the site but here's an excerpt from one of the comments to the main article at that site:

" If summer heat within normal limits could cause roads to buckle, then how come roads did not buckle in the past, you know, before Planet X arrived?

Roads are buckling and dropping all over the U.S., but that inconvenient fact is left out of most articles. In the winter the cold or rain are blamed for heaving roads; in the summer even heat around just 90 degrees is supposedly the culprit.

The cover up cannot decide what they are going to pretend is the cause: Heat or cold. Which is it? The answer: Neither. Much more likely this is the result of Planet X related stretch zone problems, that's what."

to do the (shoddy) work.

No way should traffic have been allowed over that defect.