Emergency pothole repairs needed at 21st and Cimarron in Colorado Springs
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Drivers fond travel slower, bumpier and restricted for a time Wednesday because of emergency pothole repairs on a section of U.S. 24 in west Colorado Springs.
Colorado Department of Transportation crews filled potholes between 21st Street and the Cimarron Street bridge over Fountain Creek -- a section that has yet to be repaved as part of a CDOT resurfacing project that started this year.
"The winter storms we've had this fall have really accelerated the pothole worsening there," said Dave Watt, a CDOT engineer. "With another storm expected Thursday, we wanted to take advantage of good weather (Wednesday) and get the repairs done."
Watt said as winter weather arrived in October, CDOT first tried using cold mix asphalt to fill potholes but it didn't work well.
"Hot mix does a better job," he said. "The asphalt plants can still provide hot mix this late in the year but the key is having weather good enough to apply it."
Crews planned to spend five hours filling and paving potholes in both lanes eastbound, temporarily closing one lane at a time.
"The work should be finished by mid-afternoon and the repairs should get us through the winter when we'll have more of these storms," Watt said.
On Tuesday, CDOT filled potholes on the 31st Street bridge over Fountain Creek, between U.S. 24 and Colorado Avenue, after some citizen complaints about the condition of the bridge and the worsening of potholes there.
A viewer who wishes to remain anonymous contacted KRDO NewsChannel 13 about the problem and asked why the bridge needs pothole repairs so often.
KRDO NewsChannel 13 first reported on the problem in June, and later learned that repairing the bridge could be part of the overall resurfacing project on U.S. 24.
But on Wednesday, Watt said no final decision has been made yet.
"We're looking at that bridge," he said. "We haven't decided whether to repair it as part of the resurfacing project, or as a separate project. Repair work on that bridge would be temperature-sensitive. But people can rest assured that the bridge is safe to use and that we've filled the potholes there."
