Dust Clouds in Pueblo County

These pictures were taken last week on August 30th and show a classic example of how bad road dust can be in rural Colorado counties. On this day, northbound traffic on I-25 in Pueblo County south of Colorado Springs was routed onto a rural dirt road around an accident.

Road dust is the most significant source of particulate pollution in rural Colorado counties and is a serious health threat. It's the reason that many rural communities have violated federal standards for particulate pollution in our air. On top of this, it's something that is almost entirely preventable. How do we do this? Pave roads, reduce the number of roads in our counties, coat roads with magnesium chloride, etc. Rural communities deserve clean air as much as their urban counterparts.