Comparing local pothole-filling ingredients
The proliferation of potholes in southern Colorado has some drivers wondering if street crews use inferior materials for repair.
KRDO NewsChannel 13 has received complaints and concerns from several drivers about the subject.
Local street and road crew supervisors said they use a hot mix of asphalt for longer-lasting repairs during warmer weather, and a cold mix for temporary repairs in colder weather.
Crews said drivers should understand that cold, wet weather, traffic impact, deteriorating pavement and the freeze-thaw cycle often cause cold mix repairs to “pop out” and require refilling.
However, in either case, crews said pothole filling is a temporary repair until a street or road can be repaved.
Corey Farkas, manager of the Colorado Springs Streets Division, said a hot mix repair should last several years and a cold mix fill can last up to a year under the right conditions.
“But we don’t expect cold mix fills to last that long,” he said. “Cold mix has oils that keep it pliable in cold or wet weather. The hot mix has more of a cement quality.”
Farkas said crews would prefer to do more hot mix repairs but they take longer.
“We have so many potholes that we’ll never catch up if we don’t get cold mix into some of them.”
Crews also occasionally repair concrete potholes, which is a more expensive process, and using asphalt to fill them doesn’t always work.
“You really need cement that can cure in less than an hour,” said Brad Bauer, a highway supervisor with the Colorado Department of Transportation.
Melvin Dixon, Jr., who owns a classic 1966 Ford Fairlane that was damaged by a pothole, said he doesn’t understand why better materials aren’t available.
“I’m 62 years old and I know they had one type of asphalt when I was a kid,” he said. “And it lasted because they didn’t have all this new technology.”
A five-year, $250 million paving project in Colorado Springs financed by last year’s voter-approved tax increase is designed to reduce the need for constant pothole repairs.
Preliminary work for that project is already underway but the paving is scheduled to officially begin Thursday.
KRDO NewsChannel 13 will have a full report on its 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts Tuesday.
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