DRIVER ALERT: Traffic pattern changes for Tejon Street project in downtown Colorado Springs
Scott Harrison
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — A block of Tejon Street in downtown Colorado Springs will be closed this week for milling and paving as part of an ongoing revitalization project.
The closure will be between Colorado and Pikes Peak avenues, the area that has received much of the work since the $8.6 million project began in late March.
Also possible is a lane shift on northbound Tejon, just north of the Pikes Peak intersection, allowing Colorado Springs Utilities to work on its electric system; some concrete removal and replacement could start on the southeast corner of that intersection.
In a release issued Friday, the city said that the project has now reached the halfway point.
The improvements will expand outdoor dining areas and sidewalks, increase public safety, and improve pedestrian accessibility and business activity.
Expanding outdoor dining was a strategy first used downtown during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Existing sidewalks will remain open during this round of construction.
In two weeks — after Labor Day weekend — the next phase of the project begins with a full closure of Tejon between Pikes Peak and Kiowa Street.
The project’s cost is shared by the Colorado Department of Transportation, the Downtown Development Authority, and the city’s Parking Enterprise.
Officials expect to complete the project by the end of the year; the long-range plan is to continue the improvements farther north on Tejon as funding becomes available.