Colorado Springs reveals new pothole repair strategy
Sometimes your best isn’t good enough; that’s what street crews in Colorado Springs confess about their ongoing effort to repair a large number of potholes.
“We’re trying to keep up,” Corey Fakas, manager of the Streets Division, said Friday. “But the pothole issue has become such that we can’t.”
Farkas said the previous strategy of prioritizing the worst potholes and those reported by citizens, resulted in crews spending too much time in neighborhoods and not enough time on the busiest streets where the worst potholes are.
The solution, which Farkas said has been underway for several weeks, is to focus more on high-traffic streets and roads.
“That could mean taking longer to repair the pothole on your neighborhood street,” Farkas said. “We’re not sure how much longer.”
Another advantage of the new strategy, Farkas said, is that crews will spend more time on selected potholes and do extensive repairs designed to last longer.
In an effort to repair as many potholes as quickly as possible, crews often filled them with a cold asphalt mix and compacted them with a shovel. However, the method is vulnerable to weather changes that could undo the repair in a few days or weeks.
The longer-term method involves cutting a wider area around a pothole, repairing any underlying damage, filling it with a hot asphalt mix and using a machine to compact it.
“It’s definitely a longer process but a much better, longer-lasting repair,” Farkas said.
Public reaction to the new approach was mixed.
“I think that’s a great strategy,” Samantha Mear said. “In the neighborhoods you drive slower and when you hot a pothole, it’s usually not a big deal. On the busier streets, you have no choice but to drive the speed limit and take your chances.”
“Side streets have big potholes, too,” Thomas Field said. “Your car is just as likely to be damaged.”
Farkas said his department is considering other changes to make pothole repair more efficient. He has eight crews on full-time pothole duty.
