Sections of two busy Pueblo streets to close for two weeks for emergency stormwater repairs
Sadie Buggle
PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) – Pueblo officials announced Tuesday evening that emergency repairs to a stormwater sewer require closing a heavily-traveled intersection for the next two weeks.
Starting on Wednesday, the city’s Stormwater Department will begin the work at Elizabeth Street and 24th Street; Elizabeth will be closed at 23rd and 25th streets southbound, and eastbound toward Greenwood Street.
Closure signs and barriers were in place around the intersection by 7 a.m., but officials haven’t provided details about why repairs are needed and how the work will be done.
However, a cook at the nearby Burrito’s Betty restaurant said that a crew dug into part of the intersection several months ago.
“We weren’t told then what they were doing, and we weren’t told this time either,” he said. “It hurt our breakfast and lunch business last time, and I’m afraid it’s going to happen again.”
A neighbor at the intersection said that the intersection flooded around the time of the previous work.
“They put in new curbs, gutters, and sidewalks,” she recalled. “But they seemed to have trouble after that.”
The situation created frustration for drivers, some of whom moved plastic barriers to get through the closures, while others tried to cut through the restaurant parking lot in a vain attempt to avoid the closures.
The city’s release stated that neighbors will still have access to their homes and that they received a notice on their doors earlier this week, explaining detours and available alternate routes.
But the neighbor mentioned above said that she didn’t get the notice.
“I knew about it from the flashing message board at 29th and Elizabeth,” she said.
A second week of closures is necessary for phase two of the repairs, which will shut down the block of 24th Street between West Street and Elizabeth Street starting July 31.
Courtesy: City of Pueblo
Courtesy: City of Pueblo