Neighbors along an east Colorado Springs street succeed in getting it moved up on paving list
Scott Harrison
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — It might be the best Christmas present 18 homeowners on Kern Street could have expected, and although the payoff is still two years away, at least they can anticipate it now.
A week after KRDO 13’s Road Warrior report in early November about the street’s poor condition, neighbors received a visit from Richard Mulledy, the city’s public works director, who announced that the street will be repaved in 2027.
“I was surprised that he was surprised at the condition of the street,” said homeowner Dave Cozad, who contacted The Road Warrior about the situation.
“And he told me: Mr. Cozad, I haven’t been on this street for 20 years. And I don’t remember it being like this. And I said: Well, it’s taken 20 years for it to get this way.”
Cozad said that the street was on the repaving list a few years ago, but was removed without notice.
“The director said that he doesn’t believe it was ever on the list,” he said.
It is now.
Mulledy confirmed that concrete preparation work — including new sidewalks, curbs, gutters, and ramps — will take place next year, and repaving from the 2C expanded paving program will occur the following year.
“We (neighbors) had a get-together recently to celebrate,” Cozad revealed. “We’re happy.”
He explained that the street has quickly deteriorated for decades, after homes along the street were built on clay soil that shifted, broke numerous connections to wastewater lines, and required excavations and repairs that damaged the street and turned it into something like a jigsaw puzzle.
Mulledy emphasized that not every neighborhood can expect to be moved up on the paving list and that there must be extenuating circumstances to do so.
“But I’ll tell you what every neighborhood can expect,” he said. “We’ll look at it, and we will assess it, and we will honestly look at it with the other needs and other neighborhoods and streets in the city. We’ll look at the older infrastructure, and we’ll put it in the correct place.”
Cozad also said that the same shifting clay that broke wastewater lines also cracked walls and foundations in homes — damage that neighbors had to pay for repairs.
“I paid around $15,000,” he said. “But we’re all just glad that the city agrees with the repaving need here.”