UPDATE: Work continues in second year of two infrastructure projects on Galley Road in Colorado Springs
Scott Harrison
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — Neighbors and drivers eagerly await the day when two major construction projects on the east side of town will be completed, and they’ll no longer have to detour around a road closure or squeeze into two lanes instead of four.
The projects currently are affecting Galley Road between Murray and Powers boulevards.
Replacing a 60-year-old bridge over the West Fork of Sand Creek has been the most challenging of the two projects.
Work was to begin in January 2024 but was delayed until April 2024; the project was scheduled for completion by the end of the year but encountered another delay when crews had difficulty removing telecommunications cables from under the bridge.
Gayle Sturdivant, the city’s deputy director of public works, said Monday that the project will be finished by the end of summer.
“We just started demolition last week,” she explained. “The demolition is going to last about five or six weeks. They just have to slowly take it apart, disconnect utilities that are in that area, remove the pieces that are out there and then widen that opening and get that channel work through there.”
Sturdivant says that the city is sensitive to concerns raised by residents because the delays have made it appear at times that little or no work was being done.
The project has closed a block of Galley in both directions between Moffat Circle and San Miguel Street; access to homes and businesses along Galley in that area have remained open.
Other facets of the $3 million project include widening the bridge and improving the creek channel to reduce the risk of flooding, which has been an issue in the past; wider sidewalks; improvements to the Homestead Trail nearby; and a pedestrian-activated signal where the trail intersects with Galley.
Lisa Scanlon, a neighbor, said that she understand the frustration people have about the project but asks for patience and understanding.
“(Crews) are doing the best they can,” she exclaimed. “That bridge would — when it rained or even snowed — would flood so bad. This will be done. Just have patience, because it’s good for us.”
Meanwhile, a $ 4 million Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) project to replace an aging water main seems to be making better progress.
Work started last summer at the Galley/Moffat intersection — which was right next to the bridge project and increased construction activity there.
Since then, however, the project has advanced east to the Galley/Space Center Drive intersection.
“In that roadway, it’s going to be for a much shorter section,” said Alex Trefry, a CSU spokesman. “We expect for that to be over by the end of May. And from there, there’s going to be a pause between there and the fourth phase of the project — which is the final phase where we’re going to line the water main underneath Powers Boulevard. We don’t have a start date for that yet.”
Paul Roberts lives along Galley at the completed section of the project.
“It’s very difficult to get two blocks over here without at least going a mile out of your way,” he said. “Certainly hoping for this thing to come online.”
On Monday, some residents expressed concern about more construction starting on several blocks of Wooten Road, north of Galley, when crews and heavy equipment began working.
However, CSU said that is a separate project not connected to the water main installation.
“I think they are repairing a water main leak from before,” a neighbor told KRDO 13’s The Road Warrior.
Adding to the construction congestion last summer was the repaving of a longer stretch of Wooten; Galley will need repaving after the two current projects end.