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Troy University students returned to campus last Wednesday surprised to find the main university roads stripped to the road base.

Students have criticized the road conditions on social media, citing concerns that they are risking damage to tires and vehicles to come to classes.

Herbert Reeves, dean of student services, said the plan was to begin paving while students were away at Christmas break, but weather delayed the start of the process.

“All along the weather has been a factor in keeping us from doing it,” Reeves said. “Now the weather has deteriorated and the base of those roads has gotten a lot of potholes.”

Cones have since been placed in many of the worst potholes to keep drivers from unexpectedly hitting the rough areas. Reeves said the potholes will begin patched today to alleviate the issues and that paving is expected to begin Friday.

“It should last until the end of next week,” Reeves said. “There will be some temporary road closures during that time as they move down the road and we will detour as needed. But we’re going to do it in small areas at a time instead of closing down the whole road.”

Both the patching and paving are still conditional on weather conditions allowing the work to be done.