Expanded street paving project passes halfway point in Colorado Springs

Potholes haven’t completely disappeared, but many drivers agree that driving is much smoother since an expanded street paving project in Colorado Springs started in 2016.
The third year of the 2C project continues through October. Mayor John Suthers supported it as part of his campaign in 2015, continued to push for it until he was elected the following spring and convinced voters to approve a sales tax increase that fall to pay for the project.

The tax will generate $250 million through 2020.

Workers presently are working on this year’s longest paving segment, covering a nearly 5-mile stretch of North Carefree Circle between Academy Boulevard and Marksheffel Road.

City officials said Carefree is one of the streets commonly requested by drivers to be paved.

Some drivers say they struggle to adapt to traffic congestion that often develops on paving sites.

The project is focusing on the worst major streets, but Suthers said he wants to shift to neighborhood streets if the tax is continued after 2020.

Platte Avenue and North Academy Boulevard are among the major streets paved during the project.

Officials determined that three streets — Centennial Boulevard, South Academy Boulevard and Pikes Peak Avenue — were considered the worst and decided to pave them with money from a separate local fund. Centennial is finished, Pikes Peak will be paved after a new stormwater line is installed and part of the work on South Academy begins soon.

City officials say the 2C project remains on schedule and under budget.

A quirk of the project is that the number of potholes increased, instead of decreased, during the first two years. Officials said the situation is an example of how many streets still have potholes and need paving, and that the additional paving has freed city crews to do more pothole repairs.

Last year, the city set a record by filling more than 80,000 potholes. Information about this year’s number was unavailable Friday.

Another result of the project in its first two years was a delay in striping newly-paved streets. That situation developed because only a few companies in Colorado do striping and were unable to keep up with the number of streets being paved in the city.

City officials said they would try to shorten the striping delay.

Workers are also testing fiber additives to asphalt in hopes of making paving jobs last longer.

The paving project requires constant communication and planning. A street can’t be paved if no concrete curb, gutter and disabled crossing work has been done beforehand or if a utility project is scheduled there.