South Academy project in Colorado Springs resumes after a yearlong break
Scott Harrison
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — A street improvement project that was supposed to end this summer has started back up this week after a year-long break.
We’re referring to the second and final phase of work along two miles of South Academy Boulevard, between Fountain Boulevard and Jet Wing Drive.
Crews are making major drainage improvements, utility upgrades, and replacing old asphalt and concrete.
Work resumed overnight Sunday, as crews removed old lane markers, added temporary markings, and set up concrete barriers.
This phase of the project will proceed in four segments, with the first being between Astrozon Boulevard and Drennan Road.
Preliminary work on the second phase began in 2023, while crews started working on the first phase, which covers three-quarters of a mile between Bijou Street and Airport Road.
That first phase ended in late 2024.
The city initially planned to resume construction last fall, but delayed resumption to devote more time to talking with adjacent neighbors and business owners about efforts to avoid project impacts that negatively affected them.
Ryan Phipps, the city’s capital improvements manager, said that officials learned three important lessons: Perform work in smaller segments, do a better job of maintaining easy access to adjacent businesses, and do most of the work at night to avoid affecting traffic when it’s heavier during the day.
“South Academy is a road that’s over 50 years old,” he explained. “It actually was constructed to connect the Academy — Air Force Academy — on the north, down to Fort Carson on the south. So, that was its original purpose. Since that time, obviously, we’ve had a bunch of people living along the corridor. There’s a ton of business on the corridor. So, the use of that has changed over the course of time.”
Crews are hoping to avoid issues with groundwater that slowed progress at the start of the project.
The overall cost is $100 million, mostly financed by the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority and with some federal funding included.
Meanwhile, just south of the city’s South Academy project, El Paso County is finishing its $70 million in improvements on the boulevard between Milton E. Proby Parkway and Interstate 25.