Glenwood’s $65,900 ‘pothole trailer’ gets to work on city’s bumpy streets
Provided
The city of Glenwood Springs has a new tool in its arsenal to combat its persistent pothole problem: a pothole trailer.
Purchased earlier this year for $65,900, the Streets Department already has put the four-ton, year-round operational trailer to work from Midland Avenue to bike paths along U.S. Highway 6.
“We didn’t have any real effective way for the guys to carry around all the needed items for removing, replacing and filling a pothole correctly,” Public Works Director Matthew Langhorst said. “We can have an eight- to 10-hour workday and not have to worry about the hot mix cooling off after an hour and it being unusable.”
The pothole trailer keeps hot mix asphalt hot and cold mix warm and recycles chunk asphalt and asphalt millings into hot mix asphalt. The trailer also comes equipped with an air compressor for asphalt removal and a heated tack sprayer – a vital bonding agent that allows asphalt to stick together.
“That pothole trailer will go all over town,” – Public Works Director Matthew Langhorst
In addition to repairing potholes on Midland and smoothing out two to three inch wide cracks along the bike path, the pothole trailer has been utilized along Bennett, Blake, Palmer and Pitkin avenues ahead of its chip-and-seal work.
According to Langhorst, throughout September the trailer will spend another lengthy duration back on Midland, particularly from 27th to Eighth streets.
“That section of Midland is falling apart slowly,” said Langhorst. “But, that pothole trailer will go all over town.”
The trailer has the capability of hauling 4 tons of hot mix asphalt and so far the Streets Department has produced more than 175 tons of asphalt in house.
Langhorst called the current pothole trailer “a test trailer” citing how there were bigger options available for purchase.
According to Langhorst, though, the city does not have the manpower necessary to haul around two pothole trailers.
“This is a good starter trailer for us to learn it, find out what we like about it, what we don’t like about it and then hopefully in few years maybe upsize the trailer,” Langhorst said. “It’s a good investment for us. … It was not inexpensive, but it is well worth it.”
Support Local Journalism
Support Local Journalism
Readers around Glenwood Springs and Garfield County make the Post Independent’s work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.
Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.
Each donation will be used exclusively for the development and creation of increased news coverage.
