Pueblo West residents sign petition to fix gravel roads, Metro District struggling to keep up
PUEBLO WEST, Colo. (KRDO) -- Many Pueblo West residents say the massive growth in their district has caused even worse road conditions and more properties being built on unpaved streets. Now, several residents are coming together, demanding a solution. This frustration comes as Pueblo West Metro District tells KRDO they're struggling due to being understaffed and underfunded.
"In two years, my road had been maintained once. That is down from twice a year in prior years," A Pueblo West resident said. "In my opinion, the roads should be maintained a little bit better for safety reasons."
The resident lives on South Bayonne Dr. in Pueblo West. He and 30 other residents that live on the street between Pueblo West High School and Skyview Middle School have signed a petition asking for more to be done for their road maintenance.
"The condition of S. Bayonne Drive has deteriorated with many gaping potholes and washboard ruts," the petition says. "Several residents from the affected area have individually reached out to Pueblo West Metro to get this rectified prior to this petition action."
"After a long day at work and you come home and you just want to see your family and you are going down the bumpiest road you've ever been on, it's a little frustrating," John Vasquez, a Pueblo West resident, said.
Residents say the washboard roads on Bayonne Dr. have contributed to increased noise and problems with homes.
"The ruts in the road are causing some of our houses to actually shake off their foundation. I've had to do some repairs on my house actually because of the shaking," One resident said.
Christian Heyn, the Public Works Director for the Pueblo West Metro District, says he understands residents' concerns and wants to assure them, they are doing all they can to help.
"We do hear you and we do see your reports come in and your requests. We are extremely limited on our ability to be able to tackle all of those, but we do have an ability to see them and try and prioritize them," Heyn said. "What we do try and take care of first are the high priority roads, so we may not be able to actually get to your roads within the next five years before the county takes over but it doesn't mean it isn't because we don't want to. It's not because we are dragging our feet."
Heyn told KRDO that Pueblo West Metro has eight full-time workers maintaining roads in Pueblo West. However, a study completed by the Metro District in 2018 said the company needs 31 full-time employees to adequately maintain every road in the county.
The study also said they would need $8-12 million dollars in funding annually for road upkeep. Right now, they only receive $2.5 million in funding.
"We are severely underfunded, a quarter, if not a sixth of what we are required to actually maintain this properly," Heyn said.
Heyn said they've only had eight workers since June 2021. This has allowed them to get to 10-15 miles of gravel roads in need of repairs. In total, there are 122 miles of gravel roads that the Pueblo West Metro District is responsible for managing.
Additionally, the Pueblo West Metro District gets only 21% of the total taxpayer dollars residents are paying annually.
In November, the Pueblo West Metro District agreed to give Pueblo County full responsibility for maintaining roads. However, that won't happen for another five years, according to the agreement.
"The fact is that the residents are still paying taxes and have been for road maintenance. So why is it not being served? There is also the safety factor. It is not safe to have them this way," A Pueblo West resident said.
Heyn says the way they prioritize which road gets fixed first is by determining which are traversed the most. He said Bayonne Dr. is heavily trafficked in the morning and afternoon hours, and because of that, it will be graded by November of this year.
