Back-to-back blizzards this winter will cost Denver about $20 million in street repairs over the next four years, public works officials said today.
Public works Manager Bill Vidal said the city’s streets aged one to two years, on average, during the storms and the prolonged cold spells that accompanied them. The damage has forced public works to ask the City Council for an increase of $5 million over the $12.4 million street-maintenance budget this year.
“We all have events in our lives that age us more,” Vidal said. “These pavement have been aging. What (the winter) did is it accelerated that aging.”
In all, the past winter tacked on a projected $16.4 million worth of needed improvements. Vidal said public works plans to budget $5 million a year for four years to pay for the increase and the anticipated inflation.
The street-maintenance figures come in addition to large budget overruns for snow removal.
