More pothole problems for El Paso County drivers

As we start getting into our summer months, drivers will have to deal with a problem we see every year. More potholes and cracks in our roads are creating issues for drivers and El Paso County.

Courtesy Automotive in Colorado Springs is seeing more vehicles with pothole-related damages come into the shop. Owner Scott Zarling says, “We’ve had a lot more alignments come in I’d say just this week we’ve gotten an additional 15 alignments we’ve had to do.”

Usually, Zarling’s shop gets 30 alignments at most a week but recently, “We are now in the range of 40 plus alignments a week.”

With our temperatures heating up you can expect more potholes to pop up. A problem that El Paso County Public Works has to deal with every day. “If we are not in the middle of snow removal operations then our crew is out fixing potholes,” says Executive Director, Scot Cuthbertson.

Cuthbertson says this year’s weather hasn’t helped either, “That moisture in the roadways freeze-thaw creates a lot more potholes a lot more cracking a lot more challenges in the roadway for us.”

But a plan is in motion from repaving to graveling worn out roads. In total, Public Works has 152 miles worth of road repairs in the works.

The usual budget is $4 million but this year the department was given more than $8 million. Cuthbertson says, “It will help us resurface a little bit more roadway this year.”

However, not all the improvements will be done in one go and that it will take some time for the repairs.