Pueblo to focus on three streets for repaving this year
PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) — Bonforte Boulevard is one of the city's older streets, three miles long on the northeast side of town between US 50 East and the south end of the CSU-Pueblo campus, north of Highway 47.
It also has sections that are in rough shape; so rough that they required emergency repairs.
"The pavement had been patched several times but in a very short period, the patches just weren't sufficient," Andrew Hayes, the city's public works director, explained.
The situation on Bonforte makes it the top priority on this year's street repaving list.
"We're doing a bunch of concrete repairs to sidewalks, curbs and gutters to get ready for the paving," Hayes said.
Bonforte's condition warrants a full rebuild, which is a step above a normal repaving.
"It's the most expensive and most difficult, or most logistically challenging type of project," Hayes said. "That would be a full-depth repair. So, it'd be a road replacement. Essentially, we'd excavate all of the existing asphalt, rebuild and reconnect the road base, and relay a whole new asphalt section."
However, he emphasized that such a repair costs too much to do more frequently; the city's paving budget for this year is only $4.5 million, and officials try to use it as efficiently as possible.
The two remaining streets on the paving list are: West 29th Street (between Elizabeth and West streets); and Court Street downtown (between City Center Drive and 24th Street).
Court Street was on last year's paving list but needed stormwater upgrades first.
Hayes said that the city is considering bids from several paving contractors and will choose one soon.
Crack-sealing and chip-sealing are other surface treatments that will be used to extend the use of streets that are in better condition than Bonforte.
