Colorado Springs announced 12 new pothole workers a week ago. See one of them already on the job
Scott Harrison
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — Wednesday was the first opportunity to see one of the city’s dozen new public works employees recently hired to help in the never-ending battle against pesky potholes.
KRDO 13 went to the intersection of Woodmen Road and Union Boulevard on the city’s northeast side to meet Steve, one of the new arrivals.
He was already busy working with a crew, receiving on-the-job training in pothole repair. KRDO 13 wasn’t allowed to interview him, but an official spoke on his behalf and that of other pothole workers.
“They’re on main roads in high traffic volumes,” said Clint Brown, street operations manager. This is dangerous work. “It’s not for the faint of heart. These guys are doing a great job, and I just don’t think people realize it’s more than just throwing asphalt in a hole.”
He said that in good weather, crews use hot-mix asphalt — a more extensive but longer-lasting process that includes cutting out the area around a pothole, blowing out loose debris, sealing it with a tar-like material, placing fresh asphalt into it, and rolling it flat.
That process differs from cold-mix asphalt, in which the material is placed into a pothole as a short-term fix in colder or wetter weather.
“We hope to get a few years out of it,” Brown explained, before a street or road can receive other surface treatments such as crack-sealing, chip-sealing, or repaving.
The pothole Steve worked on was beside a stretch of cracking asphalt that would eventually become a pothole from the wear and tear of traffic and freeze-thaw cycles from ice and snow.
“That’s why we’re trying to fill as many potholes now, while the weather is good,” Brown said. “When the weather is not so good, we can switch to snow removal, drainage work, or other tasks.”
What may disappoint drivers is that the new hires won’t mean faster pothole-filling.
“Really, our goal is five business days,” said Richard Mulledy, the city’s public works director. “We almost always meet that goal. The number of these folks isn’t necessarily going to make it any quicker. We’re already doing our rapid basis, but it gives us the ability to do more as people identify more. And we’re asking people to identify more.”
When Mayor Yemi Mobolade announced the new employees at his “State of the City” address a week ago, he also revealed that the city has updated its GoCOS smartphone app to make it easier for citizens to report pothole locations, fallen trees, and other issues.
The app can alert crews to issues they may be unaware of.
Some citizens were hoping that a pothole near the entrance to Fire Station 18 qualified as one such issue; they said that the pothole existed all summer and wasn’t repaired.
“I think the fire guys just put an orange cone in the middle of it, so that they could avoid it,” a viewer texted to The Road Warrior.
A contractor at the scene on Thursday explained that the pothole is on a private road and was caused by a leaking water main.
“We made (temporary) repairs and will pave over the excavated area with asphalt, later today,” he said. “We’ll finish the job after we determine who’s responsible for paying for it.”
Mulledy also addressed the question of how the city can hire new employees while it prepares to make significant budget cuts for next year.
“We looked at other functions within public works and decided to slow down some other operation,” he said. “Maybe we’re not going to do as many large capital projects next year, and we’re going to shift those resources over to the other side of the house and the maintenance to really focus on that.”
Ten of the 12 new hires are currently receiving training, Mulledy said.