Next steps outlined for repairing substandard roads in El Paso County

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- After Tuesday's update showing that nearly two-thirds of the county's paved and gravel roads are in poor condition or worse, the issue becomes determining the cost, funding source and time needed to make repairs.

With a $37 million overall public works budget, limited funding is available to make widespread repairs in a relatively short time period.

County commissioners are discussing whether to ask voters this fall to retain $15 million in surplus tax revenue, with an undetermined amount allocated to road repairs.

Commissioners said Thursday that federal funding -- for COVID-19 pandemic recovery or from a proposed infrastructure bill in Congress -- either isn't intended for roads or hasn't been adequately explained.

Commissioners have ruled out asking for voters to approve a tax increase to fund road upgrades, similar to what Colorado Springs has done since 2015.

City voters recently renewed that tax for a second five-year period, to continue expanded street paving.

"I don't see a need to ask for a tax increase," said commissioner chairman Stan VanderWerf. "We're experimenting with new technologies that hopefully will allow us to fix our roads more efficiently and save money. We're also talking with other cities to see how they're dealing with similar issues."

The type of road damage varies throughout the county; in the Colorado Centre neighborhood south of the airport, roads have wide cracks that worsen with time and weather effects.

Kevin Mastin, the county's executive director of public works, said that much of the damage is on older roads that have been chip-sealed -- covered with an oily substance and rock chips as an inexpensive method to make road surfaces last longer.

"Many of those roads 30 years old, and the base underneath them isn't necessarily the type of materials that we'd use today," he said.