Streets left over from last year added to this year’s repaving list in Manitou Springs
Scott Harrison
MANITOU SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — At this time a year ago, crews were responding to several water main breaks while also trying to schedule numerous street repaving projects.
But with water main repairs not being an issue so far this year, crews can focus more on repaving, and they applied the first new layer of asphalt this week on Shoshone Place, a dead-end street on the southwest side of town.
Shoshone Place is characteristic of many Manitou streets — steep, winding, and narrow, and essentially on mountainsides with homes squeezed along them.
That makes paving work especially challenging, as crews also have to work around low-hanging power lines and tree limbs and branches.
“I’ve been here since 1970, about 50-some years,” said neighbor Bob Rozell. “Two years ago, they paved the lower part of the street — which was very good. Now they’re paving the upper part. That’s better. Everybody I’ve talked to is pretty happy. It’s a hassle that (crews are) doing it in the middle of the day, but it’s gotta be done.”
The town is using a process known as full-depth reclamation in this year’s repaving.
“We’ve got a number of varying field conditions — where the mat of asphalt might be very thick in some spots, and really thin in others,” said Ben Schmitt, public services director. “Where it’s mixed to what the subgrade is, as well. (The process) takes all that existing material and asphalt, recycles it by grinding it up, and puts a brand-new mat of asphalt on top of it. So, it really is a long-term solution.”
Manitou also will repave several streets, such as Indian Oaks Place, that were on last year’s list but not paved as scheduled because of higher-than-expected costs.
Schmitt explained that the town’s paving budget is approximately $500,000 and comes from sales tax revenue of the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority (PPRTA).
However, he said that based on how much other tax revenue comes in during the remainder of the year, more streets could be added to the list.
Crews also applied what Schmitt described as “permanent patches” on two areas of Manitou Avenue where some of the previous water main repairs were made.