CDOT completes 4 miles of maintenance paving on Highway 115 in northern Fremont County

FREMONT COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- A rough stretch of Highway 115 between a recent and a current project by the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) is now smoother after crews completed some maintenance paving this summer.

Crews repaved four miles -- in several segments -- a few miles south of the El Paso County line.

The work was maintenance paving, a temporary operation in which crews laid asphalt over the existing pavement instead of a full repaving that removes old asphalt first.

CDOT said there is no funding available for a full repaving in that area for the next several years, and the maintenance paving should last between two and five years.

The main issue on the highway, CDOT explained, is "alligator cracking" caused by age, freeze/thaw cycles, and heavy truck traffic.

The affected highway segments are south of a project to improve safety on Highway 115 in El Paso County (completed in 2024), and north of a project nearing completion to repair hundreds of cracked concrete pavement panels in Penrose.

Last fall, CDOT also performed maintenance paving on part of westbound US 50 between the Pueblo/Fremont County line and Penrose.