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Pothole problems pronounced in Colorado high country

Marci Krivonen

It’s that time of year...when the weather’s freeze-thaw pattern causes deep caverns to form on city streets and state highways. Potholes are ubiquitous almost everywhere but in the high country, the weather’s more extreme so the roads are ripe for ripping open. Aspen Public Radio’s Marci Krivonen reports.

It’s the morning rush hour on West Main Street in Aspen. Buses, cars and construction vehicles stream into town.

Reporter: "So this is the problem area?"

Jerry Nye: "Yeah. This is a state highway and this is from the buses coming in and there’s just a heavy traffic issue. It’s a constant pothole problem, right here."

Jerry Nye is Superintendent of Streets for the City of Aspen. This section of road across from the Hickory House restaurant, looks like it’s been hit by small meteorites. The road surface is cracked and holes that formed this spring were recently filled.

Credit Marci Krivonen
Potholes tend to pop up in the spring time when there's a freeze-thaw weather pattern.

"These were done Friday night," says Nye. "And, the more water we get on the road in the form of rain or snow, the potholes keep popping out. So we have to constantly watch and repair them."

Nye’s crew patches these potholes in the winter and spring. In the summer, the Colorado Department of Transportation takes over.

The City fixed 368 potholes last year and spent $11,000 on patching and preventative maintenance. Nye says Aspen’s climate doesn’t help.

"The City of Aspen has a huge amount of freeze-thaws. It’s sunny right now and tonight it’ll freeze and that moisture, if it freezes enough, is going to make that asphalt move or pop up."

At the post office a short distance away, another gaping pothole is annoying Aspen resident Dottie Wolcott.

"It is just as you pull in front of the post office," she says. "I would describe it as deep and having been there for about two months."

She says it’s so large it could damage a vehicle.

"If you park in front of this hole, you have to back out of your parking space and you could get your rear tire caught in there, so you have to be careful."

It’s not a city problem because it’s private land. Wolcott says she’s been bugging post office staff to fix it but the problem remains. In an email, a post office representative said the pothole is being filled every week with temporary pre-mix asphalt. A more permanent solution will be implemented when the freezing stops in May.

Pitkin County’s Public Works Department is handling pothole complaints. Older roads are typically the problem areas, says Brian Pettet with the department.

"Rural roads like Snowmass and Capitol Creek are roads where we’ve been filling potholes over the last several years," he says.

The county fills about 2000 potholes a year. Asphalt and maintenance on roads is the department’s biggest expense. It’s tough in the winter, Pettet says, because the mix used to fill holes isn’t super effective.

"Usually asphalt is a hot mix, which compacts tighter and more solidly. What we have to use when it’s cold out is cold mix, which doesn’t last as long in the pothole. The county commissioners recently approved a new asphalt patching truck."

The truck should make the pothole filling stick around longer.

The Colorado Department of Transportation is in charge of potholes on Highway 82. Last year the agency spent nearly $20,000 on patching and minor repairs.

Remember the string of meteorite type holes on the highway coming into Aspen? CDOT plans to do major work there this summer. Tracy Trulove is a spokesperson.

"Our maintenance crew that handles that section of highway does have a plan to do some rotomilling and filling, so that’s digging the roadway up, getting the surface into a better place to then lay the asphalt. Our hope is that it’ll be a fix that’ll last longer."

Back along Main Street, City of Aspen Streets Superintendent Jerry Nye says the potholes develop every spring but this year is particularly bad because of a lack of work last year by CDOT.

"They didn’t get around to this section last summer, so that’s why it’s blown out so bad because it didn’t get fixed during the summer months."

The City has a pothole hotline with a goal of fixing problem spots within 48 hours of a call. City streets are in good shape, Nye says, in part because of the hotline.