Fresh off a record year in 2022, Arapahoe County Public Works and Development (PWD) is gearing up for another paving season that will place more than 40,000 tons of asphalt on County maintained roads. 

Last year’s operations saw 44,000 tons of asphalt used and most of it was placed on residential roads. This year, the focus will be less on residential and more on County arterial and collector roadways and the approaches to a bridge. There will be some residential paving in Tall Grass and the Four Square Mile neighborhoods have road work starting in the next few months. 

PWD’s Road and Bridge division has identified seven projects that will use 40,800 tons of asphalt to the tune of $5 million, said Road and Bridge Operations Manager Michael Haraldson.

The paving season started this month and will continue through October, weather permitting. 

“It has been a great start to the paving season,” Haraldson said. “With warm weather finally settling in, that has certainly helped in our effort.”

The nine-member crew started the season on a 2.5 mile stretch of County Road 129 just north of Quincy Avenue. Once complete, the crew will then move to E. Hampden Ave and pave from South Conservatory Parkway to South Himalaya Way on East Hampden Avenue. Milling operations will begin on April 24 on East Hampden Avenue and paving will start on May 1. 

Crews will then move to the Four Square Mile neighborhood in June as portions of Florida Avenue, Uinta Way, Mexico Drive and Mexico, Colorado and Jewell avenues undergo road work. In July, the approaches to the Quincy Bridge will be repaved. 

Unlike last year, the paving crew is almost fully staffed with nine full-time employees. Last year, the crew was down to five workers, forcing Road and Bridge to pull help from the patching crews.

“It is great to be almost fully staffed,” Haraldson said. 

To keep track of paving operations, details of the upcoming projects are posted on the County’s Pavement Management webpage: www.arapahoegov.com/Pavement.

The county’s management plan has a five-year outlook as 2027 is now being formulated into the plan, Haraldson said.