Pothole repairs increase in Colorado Springs after decreasing last year

Many drivers hoped that a decline in potholes repaired in Colorado Springs last year would continue this year.

Unfortunately, potholes returned with a vengeance.

After a slight decrease to 79,000 potholes filled by crews last year, the city's present count is at 98,000 -- practically ensuring the total will surpass 100,000 with another month to go.

"I believe that's a record," said Jack Ladley, the city's pubic works operations manager. "We haven't had that many in a year in my time here."

Ladley said the city's ideal annual pothole number is 60,000 but has yet to be reached in the four years of 2C, the expanded paving project financed by a voter-approved sales tax increase in 2015 and extended through 2025 earlier this month.

So why the significant increase?

Ladley said an increase in citizens reporting potholes is not a factor.

"The number of citizen reports actually decreased," he said. "And even though we had nearly 30 snow events last year to add to the freeze-thaw cycle, that's not necessarily a factor," he said.

The top reason for the increase, Ladley said, is that crews are more proactive and less reactive.

"That means we'll stay on a street or road and fill all the potholes we find, rather than wait for calls to come in or depend on a list," he said.

Ladley said the acquisition of four new pothole trucks allowed the city to dedicate 12 crews to repairs earlier year.

"We're now down to between four and eight daily crews," he said. "We're also doing more long-lasting repairs. Many of this years's potholes are previous potholes that were filled and now need repair again."

Ladley said there are two ways of thinking about the situation.

"Some people may be disappointed that the city has so many potholes but we take it as a source of pride that we repaired so many," he said.

Ladley expects the number of pothole repairs to fall toward 60,000 as more paving is done.

"People need to realize how big our city is," he said. "If you took all of our streets and lined them up, they'd reach all the way to Rome, Italy. Over a distance like that, 100,000 potholes really aren't a lot."

But Yolanda Mirkovic, a local driver, sees the matter differently.

"Interesting analogy," she said. "I just hope it's not going to be the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and we're all going to dump off into a crevice."

Last week, the city announced the release of a new smartphone app that will make reporting potholes and tracking repairs easier.