Weather changes creating more potholes in Colorado Springs

The combination of subfreezing weather last weekend followed by 50-degree temperatures on Wednesday is creating seasonal potholes in Colorado Springs.

Drivers said they are seeing more potholes appear this week, and they’re trying to avoid them.

The city has eight crews working full-time to repair potholes, even after three years of expanded paving financed by the 2C voter-approved sales tax increase.

Jack Ladley, the city’s public works operations manager, said crews are still catching up from years of street improvements that weren’t addressed.
“We’d be in much worse shape without 2C,” he said. “What 2C has done is allowed us to get away from focusing on lists of complaint calls and concentrate more on keeping crews on one street at a time to fill potholes.”

Still, Ladley said he has a list of 100 pothole complaints to which he will try to respond within 10 days.

Crews have repaired more than 4,500 potholes so far this year, Ladley said.

“I think we’ll have close to as many as we did last year,” he said.

In 2018, the number of pothole repairs decreased for the first time since the 2C paving program began in 2016. Crews filled 85,000, after a record 90,000 in 2017.

Some drivers said they haven’t noticed a difference in the number of potholes they see. Other drivers said the city should replace asphalt paving with concrete.

“That would be too expensive,” Ladley said.

Drivers can report pothole locations with the GoCoSprings smartphone app, by calling 719-385-ROAD or visiting the city website.