COLORADO SPRINGS — Street crews in Colorado Springs are working to cut away thick weeds along roadsides and burying medians in our area.
This year the weed workload is far more than it has been in a long time.
Six weeks of record rain in May and June resulted in a bumper crop of thick tall weeds across the city.
“Progress is slowed down a little bit, we can't run through some of these service requests as fast as we would like to, because we're taking that extra time,” said Colorado Springs Public Works, Program Supervisor, Corey Rivera, “It takes more wear and tear on the mowers on the manpower, because they're having to cut a lot more than what they're normally cutting.”
The weed overgrowth adds importance to the work along roadways.
Weeds that are close to the road can be the starting point of wildfires if a passing vehicle puts off sparks or someone throws out a cigarette butt.
Tall weeds also cause traffic safety concerns.
“[You can] lose visibility for cars, pedestrians to cars, the cars at intersections are big key points,” said Rivera.
The removal strategy also includes a spray that slows regrowth.
It can help prevent pricey repairs to roadways caused by unchecked weed growth.
Rivera explained, “The root structure will get stronger, and it will start causing infrastructure damage to our concrete, our roadways and pulling up that concrete, pulling up roadways and causing water to get down into them.”
Multiple crews with Colorado Springs Public Works take on the job of clearing weeds and debris from almost 3000 medians and over 1300 right of ways.
“The city is a beautiful place,” said Rivera.
This year maintaining that beauty requires extra effort.
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