South Colorado Springs neighborhood blames concrete work for recent drainage issues
Scott Harrison
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — With all of the road-related construction in Colorado Springs, we often see erosion control bags used by crews to prevent sediment from washing away and clogging storm drains and ditches.
However, those same bags may have increased street flooding during our recent rainy weather.
KRDO 13’s The Road Warrior spoke with several residents on East Cheyenne Road, several blocks north of Lake Avenue, on the city’s south side, about the problem.
One neighbor, Trish Sanders, said that the bags were placed around storm drains at several intersections along Cheyenne by a crew performing concrete work in preparation for future street repaving — but after the crews finished and moved farther north along Cheyenne, the bags were left behind.
The bags, combined with the flatness of the area, likely blocked stormwater drainage — causing it to back up in the street, on sidewalks, and even into the yards of nearby homes.
“I’ve tried to contact several different people, and I’ve gotten no response from anybody until I found you,” Sanders said. “Something just has to be done because this whole street shouldn’t have to be flooding. It causes issues in the traffic and accidents also.”
The Road Warrior found the bags around drains at several intersections between Florence Avenue and Lake Avenue.
While interviewing Sanders on Tuesday, a man identifying himself as an inspector for the contractor of the concrete work approached to explain the situation.
“The contractor isn’t quite finished here,” he said. “He’s still working on some punchlist items. He knows (the bags) are still here. They’ll be removed soon.”
Neighbors hope that “soon” means before the next rainstorm produces more flooding and creates another mess for them to clean up.
“It would make me feel better if I knew that was really going to happen,” Sanders replied. “Nobody contacted me or gave me information until they saw you here.”
Other neighbors, though, said that drainage has long been an issue in the neighborhood.
“I’d like to see more drains, better drainage,” said Nora Ricks, a lifelong resident in the neighborhood. “I don’t know how they can mitigate the problem with the sand that’s around here. But it’s not any better, even after previous improvements.”
As concrete work continues on Cheyenne, The Road Warrior hasn’t heard of similar issues.