Potholes costing the city thousand’s of dollars and delays
The snowstorms that hit Boulder over winter break and early into the first semester have taken their toll on the city and CU.
Though the City of Boulder has worked hard to combat the effects of the series of winter storms, most of the damage has already been done. The severity of the storms led the Federal Emergency Management Agency to certify the city for federal assistance.
Andrew Barth of Boulder’s public works department said the city has already paid an estimated $288,000 for the labor, materials and equipment necessary to repair damage from the storms. One of the main instigators of the problem? Potholes. Aside from accumulation of snow on the roads, winter storms commonly destroy roads by leaving gaping holes and cracks in the pavement.
“When we get a big snowfall, we usually get a good melt, too,” Barth said. “That melted water seeps into the ground, freezes at night and expands. When the water in the ground melts again, it leaves huge gaps and creates potholes.”
Most of the heavily damaged areas have been cleaned up by now, but the impact from the storms created a great deal of damage early on. The city had to shut down the on-ramp to US-36 for a day to due to an exceptionally large pothole. Potholes also complicated construction work around the area of Foothills Parkway and Arapahoe Road. City laborers worked overtime to make the roads safe to drive on again.
“We’ve had crews out there pretty much constantly filling them up,” Barth said. “The major ones, unless we get another call, have all been taken care of.”
The city, which is also responsible for maintaining many of the streets through campus, has worked with the CU Parking and Transportation Services to get most of campus cleaned up. One of the major issues involving work around campus, though, is choosing a time when the campus is least busy.
“We tried to take care of some of the (issues) over Christmas break, but the snows kept coming, so we tried to do them on Saturdays when campus is a little more quiet,” Barth said. “Due to materials and availability of crews, though, some things just have to be done while school is in session.”
Though the city has repaired most of the major potholes that plagued main roads after the storms, snow accumulation is still abundant in residential areas, such as the Hill. Because cars parked on the curbs thin the already narrow roads in these areas, workers do not have room to bring plows and snow graters in to clear them.
“We’re doing what we can with the resources we have to clean that area,” Barth said of the Hill. “It’s not easy to get around, but I know the guys are really trying to get that area taken care of.”
Some students on the Hill, though, wish the cleanup on their streets would be taken care of sooner. Sean Stephens, a sophomore business major, missed his class last Thursday. He was stuck in his car for two hours after he tried to back out of his driveway on 12th Street.
“The snow outside my street hasn’t been cleared at all. I had to call a towing company to get my car towed out on Thursday, and I’m not going to take it out again until all the snow melts.”
Other students around Boulder are not as concerned with the effects of the storms. Zaq Tull, a sophomore humanities major, has had no problem getting around Boulder after the storms.
“I usually just walk everywhere, so the potholes in the road and snow on the streets don’t really matter to me. I kind of like all the whiteness, actually. I’m in my own personal winter wonderland every day.”
For information on current construction and work on roads throughout Boulder, visit www.boulderconezones.net.
