Of two lengthy road closures scheduled to begin Monday in Colorado Springs, one starts and the other delayed until Tuesday
Scott Harrison
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — Snow accumulation and sub-zero temperatures on Monday morning led officials to postpone one of two planned road closures related to construction projects.
The closures were officially to start at 6 a.m. on a three-mile stretch of Las Vegas Street between Janitell Road and Highway 85/87, and on the eastbound on-ramp to Milton E. Proby Parkway above Academy Boulevard.
While the Las Vegas closure began as scheduled, officials decided to postpone the parkway closure for a day because of the weather.
Closures on Las Vegas are nothing new; they’ve occurred intermittently as part of the two-year, $40 million project to replace four aging bridges above the street, on Circle Drive.
That project essentially ended late last year, but crews are preparing for the final step of tearing down the eastbound bridge over railroad tracks.
The closure is scheduled to last three weeks.
Meanwhile, the ramp closure on Milton E. Proby Parkway will last much longer, not reopening until the end of May; crews are upgrading water and drainage infrastructure as part of the city’s ongoing South Academy Boulevard improvements project.
As KRDO 13’s The Road Warrior reported in an update last week, the project should be finished by the summer of 2028.
On a related note, many drivers hope that the final phase of the Circle bridge replacement means that the Willwood Tunnel will reopen soon.
The single-lane tunnel is a shortcut under Interstate 25 between Janitell and The Broadmoor World Arena, but officials closed it early during the bridge project because of traffic congestion from drivers trying to avoid the construction.
Just west of the scheduled Las Vegas closure, crews continue to build a new train crossing under the MLK Bypass to Hancock Expressway.