COLORADO SPRINGS – The potholes are back with a vengeance after Monday’s snowstorm. Much of the snow that melted on Tuesday seeped into the pavement then froze overnight causing the asphalt to crack and break.
Pothole crews from the city, county, and state have all been busy trying to patch and repair the damaged roads.
“The same guys and the same gals that drive snow plow trucks are the same folks that are out there repairing guardrail, repairing potholes,” says C-DOT Spokesperson Michelle Peulen.
She explains that the crews who patch the potholes on I-25 and other state highways do their work overnight for safety sake.
“We get them out there during nighttime hours when there’s not as much traffic, they can put up a full lane closure to have that barrier between them and traffic and then get the pothole addressed,” she adds.
Hitting a pothole can be damaging. David Town says the suspension work on his car cost $500 when he hit a pothole earlier this year. He hit another pothole Wednesday morning along US-24 near 31st Street and thinks he may need to take the car back to the shop.
“You can hear popping sounds coming from the front end of the vehicle,” he says.
More than 5,000 reports of potholes have been submitted to the City of Colorado Springs since the beginning of the year. Peulen says the state crews worked primarily along I-25 last night and will continue there again Wednesday night. They plan to get to US 24 later in the week.
Town knows it takes time to get the roads fixed, but he thinks the pothole he hit was a serious safety concern.
“When you’re driving down a road, you want to feel safe,” he says. “When you’re hitting potholes the size of your tire, how is that safe? You could cause an accident, you could cause to wreck your car, damage your vehicle, it puts others in danger.”
Peulen encourages people who notice potholes in the highways to report them to C-DOT by calling 719-562-5568.
