The Colorado Springs Gazette final

$161 million budgeted for military roadwork

Projects could wrap up by the end of 2024

BY MARY SHINN mary.shinn@gazette.com

Construction is underway to help ease traffic congestion around military installations in town, but completion is several years in the future.

The Colorado Department of Transportation is working on four projects estimated to cost $161 million to improve Interstate 25, South Academy Boulevard and Charter Oak Ranch Road near Fort Carson, and ease traffic along Colorado 94 near Schriever Space Force Base. The funding for the Military Access, Mobility and Safety Improvement Project came from an $18 million federal grant, the city of Colorado Springs and El Paso County and is on budget thus far since getting started in 2020, said Michelle Peulen, spokeswoman for CDOT.

“This was one of those projects we knew if we came together with the military, with El Paso County with the city of Colorado Springs, we could complete more collectively,” she said.

The I-25 project from South Academy to Santa Fe Avenue is about 24% complete and will include the addition of 12-foot

shoulders giving drivers and law enforcement vehicles more room to get off the road if needed. The most visible of the four projects, the I-25 construction, is expected to last until the end of 2024.

While congestion hasn’t been a major issue in the area, CDOT has seen a major problem with speeding over bumpy temporary pavement and through narrow lanes, Peulen said.

“It’s causing dangerous conditions,” she said.

CDOT has lowered the speed limit through the area to 55 mph but has not seen strong compliance, she said.

The work along the interstate includes the demolition of the South Academy bridges that recently started. The aging bridges had received a rating of “poor” from the state and needed to be taken down, she said.

South Academy is also going to be widened from just south of the I-25 interchange to south of Milton Proby Parkway from two lanes in each direction to three lanes in each direction with 10-foot shoulders. Construction is 15% complete in the area and will run through 2024.

Drivers should expect delays during the project, she said.

Work along Charter Oak Ranch Road to give drivers headed to Fort Carson an alternative to the highly trafficked Gate 20 off Mesa Ridge Parkway is about halfway done and is expected to be finished this year, she said.

Out east, along Colorado 94, crews are putting in a new intersection that will eliminate left-hand turns onto Blaney Road to access the landfill. The new intersection will keep slow-moving traffic, such as garbage trucks, out of the passing lane and move eastbound traffic faster, CDOT said.

Much of the construction will stay off the highway and should be complete by the end of the year.

Construction along the I-25 north between Monument and Castle Rock is largely complete, but crews are still at work installing equipment needed to read license plates to charge drivers tolls for using the new express lane and they will lay down one final layer of asphalt before the end the year, she said. CDOT expects to roll out the new tolls around year’s end and will off two rates, one for those who expect to need the express lane all the time and those who may use every now and then.

Highway crews will take a break this weekend as drivers head out for the holiday weekend. Crews will stop at noon Friday and restart Tuesday to help traffic flow more smoothly and urged drivers to their part, Peulen said.

“One small crash can lead to other crashes and significant delays,” she said.

Drivers that regularly travel corridors near Fort Carson or Schriever can text MAMSIP to 888-970-9665 for alerts from CDOT about construction.

LOCAL & STATE

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2022-07-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-07-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://daily.gazette.com/article/281659668735305

The Gazette, Colorado Springs