(COLORADO SPRINGS) — Potholes are an ever-present annoyance, popping up on highways, back roads, and even busy downtown areas. Following the recent winter storm, city officials are actively addressing the increased presence of this roadway hazard with dedicated crews working to ensure smoother and safer travels for all.

During Mayor Yemi Mobolade’s monthly briefing, he took the time to directly address the city’s response to repairing potholes and the need to invest in infrastructure.

“Potholes, our favorite subject, but also our least favorite outcome of the impact of the snow,” Moboloade stated. “This is inevitable, living here in the Pikes Peak region, especially being around the March to April time of the month, you see how weather shifts from cold to warmer temperatures and back again and causes freeze-thaw cycle, sometimes in the same days.”

The crews responsible for filling potholes are also tasked with road maintenance during snowstorms, making them particularly busy. This year, Mobolade shared the city has received over 1,200 requests, and filled close to 18,000 potholes.

“We have a staff that’s actively working on behalf of the citizens, and we are aware potholes can be aggravating,” said Street Operations Manager for the City of Colorado Springs, Clint Brown. “However, we have people working on a daily basis, going out there, trying to make things better and improve driving conditions to make sure things are as good as possible for getting to where you need to go throughout the city.”

Many drivers find themselves navigating through potholes on southern Colorado roadways, particularly following the recent winter storm.

The frequent weather changes in the Pikes Peak Region, combined with heavy spring precipitation and aging infrastructure, result in widespread potholes across numerous roads, causing inconvenience for many drivers.

“Potholes are simply a result of aged roads, aged infrastructure, plus climate conditions,” Brown said. “This winter, we’ve had a lot of storms that we’ve responded to, we just responded to our 18th separate call out. So, that’s a lot of snow events throughout the winter and all that moisture affects the roads and the road conditions.”

For drivers navigating these southern Colorado roadways, like David Allison, it can be like an obstacle course. He described the experience: “It’s horrible, absolutely horrible. I try to keep my car in good condition. It seems like every 5,000 miles I’m getting my tires rotated.”

For drivers in larger vehicles like Phil Exum, who operates his restaurant on wheels called Taste Bud Rescue, navigating through these potholes with kitchen equipment and food adds another layer of difficulty to the task.

Phil Exum shared the journey of setting up his food truck this morning, noting the need to slow down to carefully navigate potholes along the way.

“We had to go like 15 miles an hour because I didn’t want to bounce my grill off,” said Exum.

Last year, the city filled more than 86,000 potholes and Brown shared that they are on par with these numbers this year, with the potential for it to be slightly higher depending on the number of additional storms that come to the area.

“It started bad last year, but now it’s worse,” Exum said. “I mean, everybody’s complaining about it.”

As potholes continue to pop up around the city, Brown and Mobolade both emphasized the role drivers can play in ensuring road safety by reporting potholes.

“To report any potholes, because we depend on you to report those, use the GOCOS app or call 719-385-ROAD and you will talk to a real live person during normal business hours,” said Mobolade.

There is also an online option here that gives the option to include a description along with a photo of the exact pothole.

When encountering potholes, city officials advise drivers to slow down and avoid swerving into other lanes of traffic. Additionally, they recommend being mindful of crews busy at work repairing these hazards.

“When you see workers in the roadway trying to improve things,” Brown said. “A lot of times, traffic’s traveling at a higher rate of speed than people are actively working, and we want to keep everybody safe and let them go home to their families at night.”

David Allison described driving through a pothole as “it’s a jarring experience, that’s for sure.”

As frustrating as potholes are, Mayor Mobolade emphasized the importance of crews working daily to resolve these issues and how the city is “working for you.”

“We live in the largest geographical city in the state of Colorado, so there’s a lot of ground to cover, which means also a lot of potholes to fix,” Mobolade said. “Be patient with us and we have a great team, dedicated public servants.”