Neighborhood road in El Paso County finally getting repaved years later than expected

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- Neighbors along Rolling Thunder Way, south of Woodmen Road near the line between Falcon and Peyton, are thankful to see the rough, mile-long road finally getting a much-needed repaving.

Construction began last week and is scheduled for completion by the end of the month.

Last August, KRDO 13's The Road Warrior reported on similar paving work on the quarter-mile of Foxtail Meadow Lane, behind the Walmart, from Woodmen to the Rolling Thunder intersection.

It led neighbors to ask why Rolling Thunder -- a road in equally bad shape and with more traffic -- wasn't repaved in 2020 as the county promised.

When asked by The Road Warrior, county officials said they understood neighbors' frustration and would try to move Rolling Thunder up the paving list.

And it actually happened.

"Oh, I'm super excited about it," said neighbor Jason Petscoe. It's been a long time coming, and I heard there were some issues in the past. But they're getting it done now, and I really appreciate it."

Another neighbor, Seth Caban, reflected on the vehicle damage caused by the rough road.

"Definitely seen some wear on the tires and the suspension. It's caused a lot of havoc on the suspension, yeah."

It's not just a standard repaving job, either; the county describes it as a full-depth reclamation in which the old pavement and the underlying base are mixed to create a new base on which to apply new asphalt.

Crews have finished approximately half of the project.

Neighbors also shed some light on why the repaving took so long, explaining that the county didn't want to start work until groundwater issues involving the local water board and the original developer were resolved.

"This is a leftover from when the developer went under; that work promised on the roads was never done," Walter Fee, a neighbor, explained. "That was just before we moved in, so… hard to tell. But that road has been settling and settling. They did patchwork in spots, but it just was not gonna work."

It's unclear how much the Rolling Thunder project will cost, but it likely will be more than the $700,000 spent on Foxtail Meadow.