New overpass on Airport Road over Powers Boulevard in Colorado Springs expected to open on Wednesday
Scott Harrison
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — It’s something that drivers have waited more than two years for, and now it’s only a few days from happening.
The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) says that it will open the new overpass on Airport Boulevard across Powers Boulevard on Wednesday.
It’s a development that local leaders have anticipated for nearly a decade.
A new traffic pattern begins on Wednesday at the four-way stop intersection of Airport and Troy Hill Road, on the west side of the new interchange.
Eastbound Airport traffic at Troy Hill Road will move slightly north and line up with the ramp leading to the new overpass; the structure also provides a more direct route to the main gate of Peterson Space Force Base.
However, only two of the ramps at the interchange — to northbound Powers and from southbound Powers — have been built, and some departing Peterson traffic is already using the northbound ramp.
Until the remaining ramps are built, drivers will have to cross the overpass and use the old segment of Airport east of Powers to reach southbound Powers from eastbound Airport, and northbound Powers from westbound Airport.
That old segment of Airport also provides access to several industrial businesses and to a branch of the El Paso County Department of Motor Vehicles.
CDOT said that the left turn lane onto that segment, from southbound Powers, will remain open for the near future.
Another major change is that the old segment of Airport west of Powers will close permanently, and turns will no longer be allowed there.
The new interchange has already attracted new businesses, such as a convenience store and a restaurant, with more likely to come.
CDOT expects to finish the $46 million project by the end of the year.
On Monday afternoon, CDOT will conduct a media tour of the diverging diamond traffic configuration on the new overpass — similar to designs in place at the recently-built overpass on Research Parkway, under Powers, and on the Fillmore Street overpass at Interstate 25.
CDOT is currently planning the next Powers overpass, at Stetson Hills Boulevard, and is considering a similar structure near the main entrance to the Colorado Springs Airport, at the Milton E. Proby Parkway intersection.