UPDATE: Discovery of unmarked, underground utility lines should not delay 8th Street project in Colorado Springs
Scott Harrison
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — Two recent construction projects showed how the discovery of underground, unmarked utility lines delayed progress for several months.
However, Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) said that a similar discovery on the ongoing 8th Street improvements project should not delay work there.
In a release issued last week, city officials revealed that after crews recently finished drilling to locate utility lines under the street, they “discovered many previously unmarked underground utilities between Motor City Drive and the Fountain Creek bridge.”
With a water main replacement as part of the project, crews must ensure they can account for every utility line — who it belongs to, whether it is active or inactive, and what to do with it.
On Wednesday, CSU spokesperson Cassie Melvin explained that some of the unmarked lines were installed before modern record-keeping, which is not unusual.
“The newly-identified lines are now being recorded and incorporated into updated design plans,” she said. “Some revisions are being made. However, the overall project is not changing.”
The utility line situation could be why the water main replacement, originally scheduled to begin this winter, hasn’t begun yet; the start date is now planned for sometime this spring.
A similar utility line issue delayed construction of the new Voyager Parkway bridge as part of the extension of Powers Boulevard north to Interstate 25, and slowed progress on relocating utility lines for the new Coral Bluffs substation on Austin Bluffs Parkway.
Overnight on Wednesday, as scheduled, crews closed the west side of the Fountain Creek bridge on 8th Street — kicking off a monthlong phase to complete repair work and rebuild the sidewalk.
The traffic pattern has changed in the area, and all lanes will be in their final configuration at the end of that phase.