How are runways different form highways that they never seem to have potholes? Is it how they’re constructed? Or how they’re maintained?
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Potholes form and grow when water seeps into small cracks in pavement, and the momentary spikes in water pressure from tires rolling over the crack force it to expand. On a busy highway, a crack can be driven over once every few seconds, whereas planes only roll down a runway once every few minutes, so the wear-and-tear on a runway is much less than on a road.
Runways are also inspected on a daily basis and repaired promptly, since even a small piece of debris flung up against a jet aircraft can lead to catastrophic failure in the right conditions.
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