Potholes on the mend in Fort Morgan

City council praises work of streets department to address road issues

An uncommon winter has called for uncommon solutions.

Snowstorm, followed by snowstorm, followed by some brief warming trends and refreezing have been tough on city roads and on work crews, some elected city officials say. It has led to exposure of pothole issues.

“We live in cold in Colorado,” Mayor Pro Tem Jon Kaper said. “We understand freezing and thawing.”

That process, known as freezethaw weathering, can expand a small crack through the freezing effect and then create a larger crack, and voila a pothole develops.

“When it turns sub-zero, we expect damage to roads,” Kaper said. “The streets department is doing a good job with temporary patching. I’ve been pleased.”

Mayor Lyn Deal heaped praise on Fort Morgan road crews during Tuesday’s City Council meeting, noting the manner in which some of those winter potholes have disappeared.

“A lot of potholes are getting filled up,” she said.

The process the city uses to fill potholes is called “cold patch,” City Manager Brent Nation said.

“We’re putting as much cold patch down as we can right now,” he said.

It is a product that comes in a 50-pound bag, Kaper said, available to the general public at a home center or from other sources for industrial applications, like city roads.

“I feel like we had a doubleedged sword when we got behind on snow and ice removal,” City Councilman Brian Urdiales said. “We may have (exposed) potholes (in the process) of removing the snow.”

Some have been addressed and others continue to await repair.

“I had several people say, hey they’re out here filling the potholes,” Deal said.

Added Urdiales: “I know they are on it, and trying to address it. I have full faith in the streets department.”

Those with concerns related to potholes which have not yet been addressed should contact Nation at 970-542-3973, Kaper said.

A necessary element of road work, Kaper points out, is oil. He

has concerns with some pushing to permanently close down the Suncor Energy refinery in Commerce City.

“That’s where we get our asphalt,” he said. “It will effect everyone in the state because there will be no asphalt for summer work.”

During the period in which the refinery has been shutdown, gasoline prices in the state have risen $1 per gallon. The refinery contributes nearly $2.5 billion annually to the state’s economy, according to a recent report appearing in The Denver Post.

“A lot of people want to keep Suncor shut down,” Kaper said.

And doing so could create a shortage of asphalt, a byproduct of processing crude oil.