Start of improvement project on Dublin Boulevard in Colorado Springs delayed
Scott Harrison
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — Drivers bracing for two nights of closures this week on busy Dublin Boulevard near the Peterson Road intersection received an unexpected break.
City officials announced in a Monday afternoon release that they were postponing the $15 million Dublin Improvements project for two weeks, until early next month; no reason was given.
The overnight closures were to happen Tuesday and Wednesday, to allow crews to place concrete barriers that will establish a new traffic pattern during construction.
During the project, crews will make a variety of upgrades to a three-quarter-mile stretch of Dublin, from Marksheffel Road west to Fieler Drive. The segment will be widened from two to four lanes to match Dublin west of the project area, and to blend into the ongoing widening of Marksheffel in that area.
Other improvements include: Drainage work allowing more excess groundwater to drain into nearby Sand Creek, a center median similar to the existing median west of the project area, a traffic signal at the Dublin/Issaquah Drive intersection, and sidewalks where none currently exist.
Addressing a troublesome underground spring that developed last summer and fall — covered extensively by KRDO 13’s The Road Warrior — was supposed to be part of the project. However, when Ice began forming late in the year, crews accelerated their repair schedule and plugged the leak in January.
Robert Flores has lived along Dublin for 16 years and said the project is long overdue.
“But they need to do something about speeding,” he said. “It’s a big problem here. I’m surprised there haven’t been more crashes. Even on the street into my neighborhood (Fieler), cars don’t stop at the stop sign. They roll through it or ignore it entirely. We have kids around here. I hope something is done about that.”
Other neighbors dread the upcoming construction and fear that the project will create more traffic congestion in an already-busy corridor.
“We don’t like the fact that our lives are going to be disrupted for an extended period of time,” said Randy and Michelle Bourgeois, while taking a stroll along Dublin. “However, It’s needed. This section is a big bottleneck as it is.”
Another concern expressed by neighbors is the ability to turn left onto or off of Dublin from their neighborhoods during and after the project — something that already is challenging with the current amount of traffic.
“I’m worried that they’ll make it right turn only, out of our neighborhoods,” a neighbor said. “I hope that doesn’t happen. Traffic is only going to get heavier with all the houses they keep building in (nearby) Banning Lewis Ranch.”
Even with the postponement, officials expect to finish the project by the end of this year.