El Paso County Public Works: Road Maintenance
Jeff Manchester, Deputy County Engineer for Roads at the El Paso County Department of Public Works, recently visited the Republican Strategy Forum to discuss the department’s operations and challenges. With just under 300 full-time employees, the Public Works Department is responsible for maintaining the county’s vast infrastructure, which spans 2,158 square miles – larger than both Rhode Island and Delaware.
Manchester, who manages 45 people in his department, oversees the maintenance of the county’s road surfaces. The City of Colorado Springs maintains its own roads, while the county’s Highway Division employs 150 people. Other divisions within the department include Engineering, Fleet Management (50 employees), Resource Management Group (14 employees), and Customer Service (8 employees).
The county maintains 2,364 lane miles of paved roads and 2,078 lane miles of gravel roads. For comparison, Dublin, Ireland, is 4,442 miles away from El Paso County. Additionally, the department is responsible for 285 bridges and over 100 miles of storm drains.
To assess the condition of the roads, the county conducts a 3D Roadway Assessment every two years, driving every mile at a cost of $80,000 using a specialized truck equipped with $1 million worth of equipment. The current Pavement Condition Index (PCI) for El Paso County is around 72, with a goal of reaching 75. Any higher, and the added cost results in diminishing returns.
Pavement life is typically 20 years, but by using various preservation methods, the county can extend the life of the roads to 30-50 years. Preservation methods currently cost about $1 per square foot, while milling and new asphalt cost around $8 per square foot. The more efficient the county can be with its budget, the better the roads will be.
2025 Maintenance Programs at-a-glance:
– All Figures are Projected
– Preservation – 332 lane miles
– chip sealing – 82 lane miles
– slurry sealing – 55 lane miles
– cape sealing – 13 lane miles
– crack sealing – 183 lane miles
– Paving and rehab – 73 lane miles
– Dust abatement – 200 lane miles
– Graveling – 69 lane miles
– Concrete improvements – 81,900 SF sidewalk; 25,700 LF of Curb and Gutter
2025 Capital Projects:
– South Academy Improvements ($73M)
– Highway 105B – Lake Woodmoor to Woodmoor ($58M)
– Briargate Parkway – Black Forest to Vollmer ($38M)
– Bradley Rd. Widening – S. Academy to Hancock ($15M)
– Mesa Ridge Parkway – Powers to Marksheffel ($10M)
– Colorado Centre Drainage ($10M)
– Beacon Lite Rd (southern phase) ($9M)
– North Calahan Highway – US 24 to Paint Minne Rd ($7.1M)
– North Gate Blvd / Struthers Rd Drainage ($5M)
– Ute Pass Phase 2 Trail Improvements ($4.9M)
Currrent Challenges:
– Asset Management – Maturity and growth in our storm water asset data
– American Public Works Association (APWA) Self-Assessment – Working on accreditiation
– Inflation – Since 2019
– 52% increase in paving and preservation costs – 2021 tonnage of asphalt $90, now at $120 due to inflation.
– 70% increase in other construction material costs
– 50% increase in critical vehicle/equipment costs
Staffing and Production:
– 23 FTE vacancies across Department – 92% of authorized staffing level
– Even when fully staffed, DPW must schedule work at 111% of available man-power – some divisions pushing 131%
– Exceptional per person production rate; 60% higher than our nearest peer – highlights effectiveness of current policies and working conditions, but is it sustainable?
Other comments:
– Setting speed limits is tricky. We start with the national code.
– Shoupe and 83 has a polymer mix and holding up well.
– Electric vehicles are beating up roads due to the weight. They don’t pay the road tax at the pump – looking at adding fees to EV’s/mile.
– Residential is the biggest struggle for funding.
– We keep track of everyone that requested to repave their roads in a year. Repave about 10% of requested.
– Tourism budget – ½% of sales tax for the county equates to about $41M/year – $16M goes to maintenance.
– We love circles – they bring contact points down from 32 to 8 and don’t have the poles and lights to maintain and ccidents are less severe.
– Buckey’s is a developer project and County only reviews.
– Report county issues through Citizen Connect – City maintains county signals. To report traffic issues through website.