Potholes in construction zones on local roads: Who’s responsible for repair, damages?
Scott Harrison
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — A recent rash of pothole damage along North Gate Boulevard in Colorado Springs raises an interesting question.
Who bears responsibility for repairing road damage and reimbursing drivers on a city street that is part of a county-led stormwater project that passes through a construction zone?
“Generally, within the limits of a construction site, it’s the responsibility of the contractor to maintain the road,” said Joshua Palmer, the county’s chief engineer. “It’s not just the road. It could be the drainage, it could be the signals, it could be striping or traffic control. But if it’s within the limits of the project itself, the contractors are typically responsible for those types of things.”
Earlier this month, a large pothole developed on westbound North Gate, a city street slightly west of Struthers Road, which is in the county’s jurisdiction.
The pothole wasn’t there when KRDO 13’s The Road Warrior was in the area a day earlier; drivers began experiencing flat tires and bent rims at around 5 a.m.
A construction worker filled the pothole just before 8 a.m., but the damage had been done by then.
North Gate and Struthers have been crumbling for years, but repaving has been delayed several times due to several utility projects in the area.
Last fall, the city filled many potholes on North Gate and Struthers, and repaved the eastbound right lane of North Gate in front of the Mining Museum.
However, some of the patches have since popped out, and the stormwater project seems to have accelerated the rate of deterioration on North Gate.
It may seem surprising that potholes can develop in the relatively dry and mild weather we’ve experienced since late last summer, and with less of the freeze/thaw cycle that can worsen pothole formation.
“But we’ve also had a lot of fluctuating temperatures,” Palmer explained. “Just over the weekend, we went from 70 degrees down to the teens. It’s also the fluctuation of the temperatures, because there’s always going to be moisture in the ground, and it never goes away.”
The stormwater project began last November and is scheduled for completion in May, with paving work to follow this summer.
Palmer said that it would be a waste of time and resources to perform temporary paving on roads that are already crumbling and will only continue to deteriorate during construction.
On county-maintained roads, Palmer said that crews generally respond to pothole reports within a day or two, but a large pothole in a construction zone means that someone may not repair it — or report it — for a longer period.
It’s unclear how many vehicles were damaged by the redent pothole on North Gate, but its size and scope led to a fairly quick response from the contractor.
Palmer added that generally, the county doesn’t reimburse drivers for road damage; however, people can file claims or report potholes on the county’s Citizen Connect webpage.
To view the page, click here: https://citizenconnect.elpasoco.com//