Pueblo residents, officials discuss pothole problems, strategies

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) — Many viewers tell KRDO 13's The Road Warrior that potholes seem to be worse this winter than they normally are, while the city's public works director believes they aren't worse than usual.

Jerry Murphy Road, south of Highway 47 on the city's northeast side, is commonly mentioned as an area where potholes are deep and numerous.

However, the plethora of potholes may reflect a trend that happens not only in Pueblo, but across southern Colorado — many people who see potholes and complain about them, don't report them to their local governments.

"I am guilty of not reporting it," confessed Theresa Tristano, who lives along Jerry Murphy Road. "I will start doing that. (But) I wish that was just more readily available. It's those terrible prompts -- push 1, push 2. You don't ever know if you're really heard or not."

Another neighbor, Arnold Bernal, also admits to not reporting the potholes he sees.

"I should," he said. "They've been bad for quite a while, for quite some time -- maybe six months to a year. I've had damage to my car because of them."

The Road Warrior was in that area to report on street dips at some intersections but also found potholes prevalent there; later that same morning, a crew arrived to patch the worst.

Pueblo has limited resources for repairing potholes — no more than two crews that are pulled from a team of 25 street workers who have a variety of other responsibilities.

"It's the same crew that does maintenance work," said Andrew Hayes, the city's public works director. "They also do litter abatement on the right of way. And in the winter time, we're doing snow and ice removal, and we do weed maintenance in the spring and summer. So, those 20 or 25 people have 500 miles of road in the city to take care of."

Hayes said that he's proud of crews' ability to respond to potholes, and that the response is quick when potholes are reported to the department.

Bonforte Boulevard — a street scheduled for repaving this year — has been the site of several pothole repairs this season.

"It was an older section of pavement there," Hayes said. "And so, the pavement had been patched several times, but in a very short period, and the patches just weren't sufficient. So we went ahead and did a, emergency wintertime pavement repair there."

A KRDO 13 viewer recently suggested that The Road Warrior investigate the role of street damage from snowplows in pothole formation; Hayes said that he has taken measures to reduce the possibility.

"Our plows have rubber-bladed bottoms," he explained. "They don't have a metal blade that actually scrapes the pavement. It protects the roads and the plows. I wouldn't say there's no damage at all, but the rubber bottoms do mitigate it."

To report potholes in Pueblo, go online to https://www.pueblo.us/requesttracker.aspx, or call 719-553-2319.