El Paso County increasing focus on road preservation in 2025 paving plan

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — Economics have led officials to change their strategy the past few years in maintaining its wide network of paved and unpaved roads.

In 2018, former commissioner Stan VanderWerf described the county's maintenance needs as in the "millions and millions" of dollars and at a commissioner meeting two weeks ago, Joshua Palmer, the county's head engineer, said that materials costs have increased 50% since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But changes in strategy are paying off as officials say the county is more efficient with limited funding.

During the aforementioned meeting in which commissioners unanimously approved the county's road paving list for this year, Palmer announced that the county will continue a practice it began in 2023 — conduct a 3D radar analysis of all county roads.

"That raised our average pavement condition index from 68 to nearly 71," he said. "And with our goal of improving that index by one point annually, we did better than expected. We have a good understanding, a very good foundation of our roadway network. We want to increase that. We want to improve on that. We want to start creating specific plans that are beneficial to the areas where these roads exist. Roads on the eastern plains are different from roads in Black Forest and near the Pueblo County line."

A recent development by the county is focusing more on road preservation than road paving — using methods such as cape sealing or micro-surfacing that was done in Security-Widefield last year.

Carrie Geitner, who chairs the Board of Commissioners, is excited about the change in strategy.

"One of the things that can be difficult to understand, is when we talk about preservation, we're talking about going in and touching those roads more frequently, before they get too bad," she said. "People will ask why this road was repaved when it didn't need it, but that road needed it and didn't get it."

That sentiment was common in Security-Widefield, where residents felt that the worst roads — such as Bison Drive and Chimayo Drive — were neglected.

Officials said that those roads are so bad, they need more than preservation; they are included on this year's paving list.

"I remember when I started as commissioner, we were so far behind on roads," said board co-chair Holly Williams. "It's always felt like we're just climbing a mountain we can't quite get over. I'm glad we're highlighting the positives."

The longest stretch among the 49 roads receiving asphalt repaving, is four miles of Squirrel Creek Road, east of Peyton Highway — a road that many viewers have wanted to see improved.

But reflecting the change in strategy, nearly three times as many roads — 135 — will get some sort of preservation treatment.

The new strategy may be hard for residents like Tonya Reggans to get used to; she lives near the Squirrel Creek/Peyton intersection.

"There are a lot of potholes here," she said. "But they can still fix them and fix some of the gravel roads."

But residents like Brandon Ray welcome the upcoming repaving of Squirrel Creek.

"The plows just chew up the roads," he said. "There's potholes. You can't help but hit 'em. I'm glad it's being repaved. My truck sure needs a break."

Another 30 roads will receive more traditional crack-sealing or chip-sealing treatment.

The county will spend approximately $22 million on this year's road plan; most of that comes from sales tax revenue generated by the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority.