Arapahoe state highways are CDOT roads, not county streets

A pothole sits in front of you, but the question of who fixes it depends on which line on a map you are standing on. Plenty of roads that run through Arapahoe County never belong to the county at all. Interstates, U.S. highways, and state highways are built and maintained by CDOT, the state’s transportation department, no matter whose town they cross.

The split holds in both directions. CDOT handles those numbered routes; cities and counties handle local and residential roads. From the county’s side the same lines apply: state roads belong to CDOT, cities and towns maintain the streets inside their limits, and Arapahoe County crews work the roads out in unincorporated areas.

This is the same logic behind potholes, plowing, signs, crash reports, and construction questions. I-25, I-70, I-225, U.S. 285, and the state-numbered routes can run for miles through the county without ever becoming county-maintained roads, even where they pass right through a neighborhood.

So a minute spent naming the road saves a misrouted call. A state highway points you to CDOT, a city street to that city’s public works, and an unincorporated county road to Arapahoe County Road and Bridge. The CDOT transportation facts page and the county snow removal page each lay out their own half of the map.