Colorado Springs is set to embark on a five-week pothole repair initiative starting Tuesday, aimed at improving road conditions across the city. This effort, described as a ‘surge’ or saturation patrol, is designed to aggressively tackle the city’s pothole issues.
Mayor’s Commitment to Infrastructure
Mayor Yemi Mobolade, fulfilling a campaign promise, has committed additional manpower and resources to this project. ‘Expect to see advancement, action, and improvement,’ he assured residents, emphasizing the city’s dedication to infrastructure maintenance.
The surge will be conducted in two main operations. The first involves a ‘district pave strike team,’ where in-house crews will focus on streets not covered by the city’s annual expanded paving program, known as 2C, but still plagued by potholes. These crews will apply an asphalt layer over segments with numerous potholes, a process known as maintenance paving. This method saves time and resources compared to filling each pothole individually and serves as a temporary solution until full repaving can be funded.
Recent examples of maintenance paving include work done in 2024 on the south end of Circle Drive and Venetucci Boulevard, which recently came under city jurisdiction.
Enhanced Pothole Patrols
The second operation will deploy two pothole repair trucks in each of the city’s four public works districts. These trucks will conduct ‘search and destroy’ missions to address any potholes they encounter. Despite these efforts, city officials continue to encourage residents to report potholes, as only 10% of repairs originate from public reports.
To support this initiative, the city has secured funding for two new pothole trucks, replacing the oldest in the fleet of 13. Corey Farkas, the city’s manager for public works operations and maintenance, noted that while 10 out of 13 trucks are currently operational, breakdowns can occur, especially with constant use and varying weather conditions.
Farkas also mentioned that some crews will be reassigned from other public works tasks to support the surge. ‘Our crews have more than 20 duties they’re responsible for,’ he explained, highlighting the challenges of limited resources and the city’s extensive infrastructure.
Public works director Richard Mulledy added that the city prioritizes repairs based on safety, road conditions, traffic volume, and coordination with other projects. The city plans to gather data from the surge to analyze average response times and develop a ‘heat map’ identifying pothole hotspots.
Original reporting: KRDO (Colorado Springs metro) — read the source article.
