COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — Paving season gets underway soon in Colorado Springs, as the 2C Road Improvement Program enters the final year of its second version.
In November, voters decided to approve a third version of 2C, which is a sales tax of .57 percent, or about 5.7 cents on a $10 purchase. The third phase of 2C will start in 2026 and run through 2035. The funds are only used to repair Colorado Springs' roads and adjacent concrete such as sidewalks and gutters.
According to the City, it costs about $140,000 to pave one lane mile of a city street, but costs may vary based on the price of labor and materials.
The plan for 2025 paving operations mainly focuses on streets on the northwest and southwest side of the city.
2C PROGRESS AS OF DECEMBER:
- Repaved 1,792 lane miles
- Replaced 1,924,334 linear feet of curb and gutter
- Replaced 4,300,603 square feet of sidewalk
- Installed 2,164 new pedestrian ramps
- Retrofitted 8,546 existing pedestrian ramps
2C MONEY IS NOT FOR FILLING POTHOLES
News5 visited a street that is on the 2025 paving list this week and spoke with about a dozen residents living along Kittridge Avenue. None of those people were familiar with 2C program and most of them said they voted in almost every city election. There is a common misconception that 2C funds are used to fill potholes, but that isn't the case.
Pothole repair funding in Colorado Springs comes from the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority (PPRTA). PPRTA is a one-cent sales tax. The members of PPRTA are the cities of Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs, El Paso County, and the towns of Green Mountain Falls, Ramah and Calhan. The PPRTA was established by voter-approved ballot in November 2004, which authorized a one-percent sales tax to support PPRTA goals. The funds are divided between capital projects (55%), maintenance projects (35%) and transit (10%).
IS YOUR ROAD ON THE 2C PAVING LIST?
You can view the 2025 paving list by clicking here or by scrolling to the bottom of this article. You can view the proposed paving areas for 2026 and 2027 by clicking here to view a map. You can then filter out each year.
HOW DOES THE CITY PICK WHICH ROADS TO PAVE?
"We have a comprehensive year-by-year plan that outlines roads to be paved in each area of town, utilizing a data-driven model that rates road pavement conditions," part of a post on the City's website explains. "The list can change as we coordinate paving with timing of other City projects. We also attempt to minimize impacts to the traveling public by paving in all sections of the city so traffic impacts aren’t focused in one area of town."
The City recently highlighted what they jokingly call the "Ghostbuster" car. The $265,750 project is also funded by PPRTA and not 2C. The city has contracted multiple times with Marker Geospatial to use a high-tech vehicle to collect data on the roads. The data is collected in only eight weeks by Marker Geospatial, and will be analyzed and available in three months, the city used to spend years manually collecting the same data.
Click here for a lot more on 2C.
HOW TO REPORT POTHOLES (AGAIN, 2C DOES NOT FUND POTHOLE REPAIR!)
The first thing you need to do is make certain the pothole you want to report is on a city street. You have to consider that there are pockets of county land within the City of Colorado Springs, and areas like Cimarron Hills and Gleneagle are not part of the City of Colorado Springs. Private parking lots outside of grocery stores or other businesses may have potholes, but the city can't touch potholes on private property.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON REPORTING POTHOLES ON CITY OF COLORADO SPRINGS STREETS.
"One of the calls that we get that's a little more difficult is when you're pulling off of a city street, and you're going into maybe a shopping center... and that shopping center entrance looks like a roadway, but it's not a city street," Colorado Springs Public Works Operations and Maintenance Division Manager Corey Farkas said. "It actually belongs to the property owner that owns that property... We can't go on to that private property and fill potholes, and a lot of them have some bad potholes, specifically on the east side of town. Off of Powers. That being said, we try our best to try to get a hold of the property owner and let them know."
BE AWARE OF CONE ZONES!
With warmer temps, expert road work on top of the 2C paving project to ramp up. City officials are constantly reminding the public to follow the speed limit and put distractions down. Click here for a cone zone map from the City of Colorado Springs.
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