Fountain’s Southmoor Drive to be repaved, have guardrail installed after being closed for six years
Scott Harrison
FOUNTAIN, Colo. (KRDO) — The Fountain City Council unanimously followed the recommendation of a citizens’ advisory council and will spend $450,000 to repair and reopen a neighborhood road that has been closed due to erosion concerns since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Council members voted for the move during Tuesday night’s regular meeting, selecting one of three options to repair a segment of Southmoor Drive on a bluff above Fountain Creek, on the north end of town.
Todd Evans, deputy city manager for Fountain, stated that the money originates from a permit fee paid by the developer of a new apartment complex last fall.
He said that the city will use the money to repave the 1/3-mile road segment from The American Legion to the Walmart parking lot and install a guardrail along the creek side.
A less-expensive option would have installed a guardrail but not improved the road, while a more expensive option would have extended the paving nearly a mile north, to the city limits.
“The option we’re choosing leaves us $320,000 — which would go back into our resurfacing projects that we have scheduled, and allow us to do more,” Evans explained.
In a council meeting a month ago, members decided to delay a decision on the road until they could determine what damage heavy creek flows from future storms may cause to creek stabilization work completed last summer.
That project, conducted by the Fountain Creek Watershed District, cost $7.1 million, with Fountain contributing $600,000.
The impact of previous storms led to the Council’s decision to close the road in the spring of 2020.
Last year, the Colorado Department of Transportation made intersection improvements at Carson Boulevard and Highway 85-87 — southeast of the road closure — installing a traffic signal and building medians to protect drivers making left turns into and out of the neighborhood to visit the Walmart and other businesses along the highway.
“We really appreciated that,” said Adam McDonald, a neighbor, to the Council. “But it’s still a dangerous highway. Southmoor Drive gave us safer access to the businesses.
Evans said that the repaving and guardrail work is currently out for bid, and construction will start when the city chooses a contractor.
The repaving will recycle asphalt on-site, officials said, and the good condition of the road base underneath the pavement eliminates the need to use fresh asphalt — thereby saving money.
“We hope to finish by the first week of August,” said Bob McDonald, the city’s public works director. “Weather permitting, of course.”
Mayor Sharon Thompson said that she’s excited about the project being finished before Veterans Day, which would be great news for the Legion post nearest the road closure.