We know about El Paso County’s project on South Academy Bouevard. What about the Colorado Springs project there that started in 2023?
Scott Harrison
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — Work resumes this fall on the second phase of the city’s $62 million project to improve South Academy Boulevard; some prep work was done, but the bulk of that project has yet to start.
The first phase, which began in early 2023 and concluded last fall, upgraded a section of approximately three-quarters of a mile between Bijou Street and Airport Road.
Phase two will cover a longer segment — two miles — between Fountain Boulevard and Jet Wing Drive, which is north of a similar project by El Paso County between Milton E. Proby Parkway and Interstate 25.
The overall city project is improving utility lines, drainage, and traffic and pedestrian safety along the busy corridor, as well as repaving the boulevard.
Several viewers have asked KRDO 13’s The Road Warrior why construction on the city’s second phase hasn’t happened yet, during the peak season for road construction projects.
Ryan Phipps, the city’s capital improvements manager, said that planning work is happening behind the scenes to avoid the negative impacts of the first phase.
During that phase, some merchants said that their sales declined by 50% because it was so difficult for them, their customers, and traffic to get in and out of the construction zone.
“The plan has been really just to get everything laid out so that we can meet the expectations — as best as possible — for that community,” he explained. “Prioritizing that, making sure that we’ve incorporated that in the approach to procuring a contractor, our design plan, things of that nature.”
To that end, the city plans to hold a public open house in September — a month before construction resumes — to inform citizens about aspects of the project, particularly access into and out of the construction zone.
“I expect that we’re going to see a lot of different phasing of the construction,” Phipps said. “Rather than taking the entire two-mile stretch of road, we’ll be asking our contractor to have a far more strategic plan for the work that they are immediately working on.”
Crews may face groundwater and soil issues that slowed progress on the first phase.
The improvement projects are upgrading infrastructure that dates back to the 1950s and 1960s.
Phipps said that the project’s contractor is responsible for pothole repairs in the construction zone.
The city and county’s projects on South Academy are scheduled for completion next year.