UPDATE: At least 325 damaged concrete panels need repair or replacemet on Highway 115 in Penrose

FREMONT COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- Crews with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) have so far removed dozens of concrete pavement panels that were cracked and broken along the five miles of Highway 115 in Pensose.   

And this week, workers were still using saws to cut out the remaining affected panels on the north end of the project area.

CDOT has closed the northbound lanes in that stretch, and one lane in each direction shares the southbound lanes; there is a constant noise from southbound traffic passing over the rumble strips on the right shoulder.

There are several intersections where drivers can turn onto or off the highway.    

Although the panels come in a variety of sizes, many are surprisingly long, wide, and deep; some empty slots have been removed and filled with new concrete.

Wayne Pittman, a resident engineer with CDOT, cited three factors contributing to the problem: The age of the concrete (it was installed in 1992), wear and tear from constant heavy truck traffic, and groundwater or clay soil that undermined the panels.

"The panels are roughly 12 feet by 15 feet," he explained. "There are around 125 full-panel repairs. For the partial panel repairs, there are over 300. We've added 90 to the full-panel repairs because once we got into it, we found that we needed to do more."

The solution, Pittman said, is to improve drainage by removing groundwater or clay, adding larger rocks and soil to the existing base, and finally pouring fresh concrete over it.

"It's just a surface repair to preserve the pavement and give us another 20 years before we'll need to replace all of the concrete," he stated.

Crews will eventually inspect southbound panels to determine what repairs are needed there.

The $3.6 million project started in March and continues through September.