Alligator Cracking Repair in Gresham, Oregon

Quick Verdict

Alligator cracking repair in Gresham almost always means full-depth repair, because the interconnected, scaly pattern is a sign the base under your asphalt has failed — not a surface problem you can seal away. On East Multnomah County lots, sitting on water-holding valley clay and soaked by months of rain, fatigue cracking is one of the most common failures we see. The honest fix is to dig out the failed section, rebuild the base, and repave it. Sealing or overlaying alligator cracking just buys a season before it comes right back. This guide explains why it happens here and how it gets repaired correctly.

What Alligator Cracking Is

Alligator cracking — also called fatigue cracking — is a web of interconnected cracks that looks like reptile skin or chicken wire. It shows up in the wheel paths, where traffic loads concentrate, and it is the clearest sign in all of pavement diagnosis that the problem is structural.

Here is the mechanism: the base under the asphalt has lost its strength, usually because water got in and softened it. With no firm foundation, the asphalt flexes under every passing vehicle. Asphalt does not like to flex — repeated bending fatigues it until it cracks into that telltale pattern. By the time you see alligator cracking on the surface, the failure underneath has already happened. Our pavement distress diagnosis guide and the detailed alligator cracking causes and repair guide cover the full picture.

Why It Happens in Gresham

Gresham sits at the eastern edge of the Portland metro, where the valley floor meets the rise toward the Cascades and the Columbia River Gorge. The conditions here are tough on a pavement base:

• Valley clay sub-grade. Most Gresham lots sit on heavy clay that holds water and loses strength when saturated. A weak, wet base is exactly what produces fatigue cracking.
• Long wet season. Months of western Oregon rain keep the base saturated, with little dry time to recover.
• Gorge-edge temperature swings. Lots toward Troutdale catch more of the wind and cold coming down the Gorge, adding freeze-thaw stress on the coldest nights.
• Heavy traffic on commercial lots. Delivery trucks and constant turning along the Powell and Division corridors load the same wheel paths over and over, accelerating fatigue.

Grading the Severity

Using the low/medium/high tiers from ASTM D6433:

Severity	What you see	What it means
Low	Fine, hairline interconnected cracks, no spalling	Base is starting to fail; act now
Medium	Defined network, some spalling at crack edges	Base failure underway; full-depth repair
High	Pieces rocking under load, pumping, potholes forming	Advanced failure; larger rebuild

The reason severity matters is timing. Caught at low severity, the repair area is small. Left to high severity, the failed zone spreads outward and the bill grows with it.

Why You Can't Just Seal or Overlay It

This is the most important point. Crack sealing keeps water out of a working surface crack — but alligator cracking is a base failure, and there is nothing to seal. An overlay puts new asphalt over the failed area, but the base is still soft, so the new surface flexes and the alligator pattern reflects right back through within a season or two.

The only durable fix is full-depth repair: saw-cut the failed section, remove the bad asphalt and the softened base material, rebuild the base with proper aggregate and compaction, and repave. That restores the foundation the pavement needs.

How a Full-Depth Repair Works

When alligator cracking on a Gresham lot needs full-depth repair, the work follows a clear sequence, and understanding it helps you judge whether a bid is doing the job right:

1. Mark the failed area. The crew maps the alligator-cracked zone, usually extending the cut a little past the visible cracking because the failed base often reaches beyond the surface pattern.
2. Saw-cut and remove. Clean saw cuts define the patch, and the failed asphalt comes out down to the base.
3. Dig out the bad base. This is the step that separates a real repair from a band-aid. The softened, water-damaged base material is removed until firm ground is reached.
4. Rebuild and compact. Fresh aggregate base goes in and is compacted in lifts. On East Multnomah County clay, getting this compaction right is what keeps the patch from sinking later.
5. Pave and seal the edges. New asphalt is placed, compacted, and the seams around the patch are sealed so water cannot get back in at the edges.

A bid that skips the dig-out and just repaves over the same soft base is not a full-depth repair — it is an overlay in disguise, and it will fail the same way.

When It's Time to Replace Instead

If alligator cracking covers a large share of the lot — generally more than about 25 to 30 percent — patching most of the surface stops making economic sense and full replacement becomes the cheaper long-term choice. Our repair vs. replace decision guide walks through that crossover.

Industry Baseline Range: full-depth repair of fatigue-cracked areas commonly runs in the range of several dollars per square foot and up+, well above a surface seal, because it includes removal, base rebuild, and repaving. These are industry baseline ranges for planning only — actual pricing depends on lot size, access, condition, and current market conditions. Get a site-specific quote.

Current Market Reality

Material and trucking costs in the Portland metro follow the asphalt index, and Oregon's short May-to-October window concentrates demand. For Gresham owners, the worst value is the cheap bid that overlays alligator cracking — it reflects through within a season and you pay twice. Repairing the base once, correctly, is the rational spend. Catching it at low severity keeps the failed area small.

The Bottom Line

Alligator cracking in Gresham is base failure, and base failure needs a base fix. On East Multnomah County clay, soaked by the wet season and worked by Gorge-edge cold, fatigue cracking spreads if you ignore it. Full-depth repair restores the foundation; sealing and overlays only delay the inevitable. Catch it early to keep the repair small, and replace once if it has spread too far. Cojo provides asphalt repair services across Gresham and the Portland metro. Request an assessment and we will tell you how deep the failure goes and what it takes to fix it for good.