There’s good and bad news about Fountain Expressway and east Fountain Boulevard in Colorado Springs. Here’s what we know
Scott Harrison
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — First, the good news: Repaving and other improvements along one of the area’s busiest corridors have now become a higher priority.
The bad news, however, is that 2028 is the earliest that work will happen.
Most drivers are familiar with the poor condition of the Fountain Expressway, and the east end of Fountain Boulevard — particularly the three-mile stretch between the Circle Drive overpass and Powers Boulevard.
That route is also part of the US 24 highway network through the city.
KRDO 13’s The Road Warrior learned that in August, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) revised its ten-year highway construction plan to include addressing Fountain Expressway/Boulevard by 2028.
CDOT will also take the Fountain improvements a mile farther west, to the Interstate 25 interchange.
The plan revision was approved during an August board meeting of the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments.
What many drivers like Margo Dunbar wonder, is if the busy corridor can last three years before a project begins.
“I recently thought: Oh, they filled these holes,” she said. “But listen to that asphalt coming up under our vehicle. How well were these holes done? When they fix them, I know it’s hard to really fix them. You know, quality fix them.”
CDOT tries to repair potholes, cracks, crumbling, and erosion along the corridor, but it’s nearly impossible to keep up; drivers can see many areas that have been repaired repeatedly.
Dunbar reflected on a particularly large and deep pothole next to the right turn lane on westbound Fountain at the Academy Boulevard intersection.
“I saw that pothole disable a large SUV,” she recalled. “For smaller SUVs and smaller sedan cars, that really would disable them. I just think that it’s unsafe and should be filled right there.”
Dunbar said that the pothole has remained for at least seven months, and at times, someone places a construction cone into it to alert drivers.
“It’s especially a problem when vehicles back up at that intersection, trying to squeeze into the left turn lane,” she said.
Highway construction projects are largely dependent on limited and available funding, but CDOT’s revised ten-year plan indicates an awareness that Fountain needs major improvements as soon as possible.
Late this summer, CDOT completed maintenance paving on Fountain between Powers and Murray Boulevard to temporarily stabilize the road condition there.