More traffic impacts from another utility project on same segment of Austin Bluffs Parkway in Colorado Springs
Scott Harrison
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — Just three months after finishing an eight-month project to relocate a natural gas line, Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) has started more utility work along the same stretch of Austin Bluffs Parkway.
A project began last week to relocate existing utility lines under the street, marking the first phase of a larger project to construct the Central Bluffs power substation at the intersection of Austin Bluffs and Goldenrod Drive.
The latest utility line relocation will affect around a mile of the busy parkway, between Meadowland Boulevard and Union Boulevard, and is scheduled for completion in mid-November.
Alex Trefry, a CSU spokesman, said that traffic impacts from the project will be similar to those from the previous project, which often slowed traffic along a hilly, twisting segment of the parkway.
“One major difference is that during July, there are traffic impacts on both sides of Austin Bluffs Parkway,” he explained. “Both westbound and eastbound, which wasn’t the case with the other one.”
The previous project covered only the westbound right lane between Goldenrod and Union and was delayed four months by the discovery of an underground fiber optic cable.
“Water, wastewater, fiber, gas infrastructure, and the electric infrastructure are what’s being relocated underground,” Trefry said. “Some of the overhead power lines will be placed underground, as well.”
It’s unclear whether this project will include an aspect of the earlier project — a line of metal barriers that closed the right lane to traffic during construction.
“We have a contractor doing this, so it’s their traffic control,” Trefry said. “Before the gas line relocation, we did that in-house. That was our traffic control, which was why I was able to sort of talk more in-depth about it. I’m not 100% sure on whether the contractor is putting up Jersey barriers or not.”
He added that the project is very unique.
“It’s unique to build an electric substation in an already developed area like this. That comes with some challenges, like the underground utilities that we need to move, for that substation to be built.”
Most of the work will occur on weekdays; drivers should be prepared for occasional lane closures, added congestion, and slower speeds through the construction zone.
CSU is spending $6 million to relocate the utility lines, and up to $45 million on the substation; the latter won’t be finished until late next year.
The substation will replace the generating capacity of three older substations.