Author: KRDO

Scott Harrison

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — In late May, KRDO 13’s The Road Warrior brought you a fascinating look at a segment of a 24-inch water main being installed under Bear Creek as part of the ongoing improvements project on 8th Street.

Definitely something you don’t see every day, but you’ll get to see it again in the coming weeks.

Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) designed the 8th Street main and began preliminary work this week to install a new 16-inch water line on Hancock Expressway, in front of CSU’s Leon Young Service Center.

CSU will use the same contractor as with the previous project.

The Hancock project will bore 60 feet under Spring Creek — twice as deep as in the 8th Street project — because Spring Creek is deeper and wider.

Another difference is that the Hancock line will be considerably longer, around 2,000 feet, and connect to new and existing apartment complexes east of the service center near the Union Boulevard intersection.

“It just creates a more reliable, resilient water system,” Cassie Melvin, a CSU spokesperson, explained. “Just completing the section through here for growth in the area, for the road that’s going to be developed by the city.”

That new road is Twin Bridges Road, currently under construction below the MLK Bypass, between Las Vegas Street and the Hancock service center; it cuts through what is currently CSU property and will replace an existing train crossing when it opens this fall.

The new line will also be under two bridges — on Hancock and on the Bypass above Hancock.

CSU said that the project should be finished in December.

Traffic will be reduced to one lane in front of the service center during construction.

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Alexander Brunet

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – A driver was unharmed after his car rolled over on Powers Boulevard, just north of the Milton E. Proby Parkway intersection, just before 5 a.m. on Thursday.

The crash scene was outside the main entrance to the Colorado Springs Airport.

Police said that the driver was traveling west on the parkway and attempted to merge onto northbound Powers when he lost control on the ramp, which has a fairly sharp curve.

“He was going too fast,” an officer at the scene told KRDO 13’s The Road Warrior, and the pavement was damp from rain overnight.

The car rolled, possibly twice, before stopping upside down on the center median and the left lane — leaving a trail of shattered glass and other debris behind.

When the Road Warrior arrived, the driver stood in the median beside the car, leaning on a lightpost and grinning: “I’m OK, just embarrassed.”

Police said that the driver wasn’t hurt.

Officers briefly closed both lanes of northbound Powers around the crash, leaving a narrow path for traffic to move through and clogging traffic from the double left-turn lanes on the eastbound parkway.

By just after 6 a.m., a tow truck driver had removed the wreckage and traffic returned to normal.

Stay up to date with the latest local news, sports, and investigations by downloading the KRDO13 app. Click here to download it from the Apple App Store. Android users can download it from Google Play here.

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Bradley Davis

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – The annual Pikes Peak Regional Air Show returns this weekend to the Colorado Springs Airport with live flyovers and close-up aircraft encounters.

The air show has partnered with the National Museum of WWII Aviation to bring refurbished wartime planes to the airstrip for crowds to see up close.

The F-18 Rhino Demo Team will headline the show. The group flies at 1:55 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday.

“They will be loud. They will be ones that you could feel in your bones, and they will be putting on an incredible show for us,” said Colorado Springs Sports Corp Director of Marketing Rands Keasler.

The hot ramp landing strip opens in the morning for guests to check out before the shows start at 10:50 a.m. The pilots will be around talking to guests and showing off their planes.

Tickets are still available. General admission is $55 per person. You can find a full schedule of events here.

Stay up to date with the latest local news, sports, and investigations by downloading the KRDO13 app. Click here to download it from the Apple App Store. Android users can download it from Google Play here.

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Rob Namnoum

KRDO-13 Sports Director gets a taste of what tailgating is like at Arrowhead Stadium before the Broncos/Chiefs game.

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Scott Harrison

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — Lane changes and even intersection closures have been frequent in the ongoing project to improve two miles of South Academy Boulevard, between Fountain Boulevard and Jet Wing Drive.

Earlier this week, some traffic impacts began, and more will start this weekend.

Traffic on southbound Academy has been reduced to one lane since Monday morning near Hancock Expressway while crews excavate part of the street to install storm sewer structures.

That change continues until Friday evening.

A longer change begins on Friday night and will continue for two weeks, as Hancock, immediately west of Academy, closes until noon on Oct.3.

Crews will install new storm sewer pipes, pave the street, and rebuild the median and sidewalks.

The right lane of southbound Academy Boulevard will also close near Hancock to provide space for construction equipment and protect workers and drivers.

The project won’t be finished until 2028, partly because of a year-long delay as the city worked to avoid the negative business impacts associated with the similar project on the north end of South Academy.

“We’re coordinating more closely with those businesses,” said Ryan Phipps, the city’s capital improvements manager. “Again, we’re implementing the newsletters, the website content, the text alerts, trying to get our message out as best as possible with that project and our contractors. Doing really well. They’re staying on schedule.”

KRDO13’s The Road Warrior spoke with four merchants at the nearby Mission Trace shopping center who told him that construction has had little or no impact on their sales.

However, it’s a different story at the Smoke Academy, owned by Mike Ezzat since 2011.

“If you want to talk only about the last two years, I have lost 70% of my business,” he said. “And this is documented already for what I report to the IRS on how much income I’ve made since, because people find it very hard to go around and come to the business here.”

Ezzat said that although there have been at least six other businesses in the center to close during the past year, he will try to hold on because he believes sales will improve after the project is finished.

“What else can I do?” he chuckled. “I’m between a rock and a hard place.”

Stay up to date with the latest local news, sports, and investigations by downloading the KRDO13 app. Click here to download it from the Apple App Store. Android users can download it from Google Play here.

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Bradley Davis

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – Wednesday morning, the Best Buy off North Academy looked like a scene straight out of Black Friday 2005.

Dozens lined around the building waiting for the new Pokémon 30th Celebration set, one group camping out overnight as early as 9 p.m. Tuesday night, 13 hours before the store opens at 10 a.m.

The popularity of Pokémon cards has exploded since 2020. Finding packs has become more and more challenging, leading to the lines we’re seeing Wednesday morning outside of Best Buy.

KRDO13 talked to some customers bright and early who are no strangers to waiting for Pokémon drops. They told us this set in particular has brought larger lines to Best Buy.

The 25th Anniversary Celebration set found huge popularity in 2021. The 30th Celebration set follows a similar style, reprinting some of the most popular classic cards from the previous decades with the characteristic “Celebration” logo in the corner of the design. One change: every pack of the 30th Celebration pack has a Pikachu in it.

Stay up to date with the latest local news, sports, and investigations by downloading the KRDO13 app. Click here to download it from the Apple App Store. Android users can download it from Google Play here.

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Rob Namnoum

KRDO-13 Sports Director spent the afternoon at Arrowhead Stadium to gauge what Kansas City Chiefs fans really feel about the power couple of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.

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Bradley Davis

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – Tuesday morning, the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (CMZ) will open its new Giraffe Center to the public for the first time since construction started almost two years ago.

The outdoor yard is 25% bigger and includes brand-new switchbacks, allowing the Giraffes to explore up Cheyenne Mountain for the first time.

In addition, both Giraffes and guests can enjoy a new indoor space connected by giraffe-sized garage doors. The indoor space features a unique opaque ceiling allowing for natural sunlight and moonlight.

Guests will have access to feed giraffes along the entire walkway in the indoor and outdoor spaces.

Soon, guests will be able to feed the giraffes from brand-new vantage points not offered by the former exhibit. There are stairs and rope bridges allowing access to feed giraffes from above, and stairwells to the giraffes’ ground level to feed them from below. Imagine a Stegosaurus bending over to eat from your hand! The zoo said it will open these attractions after the giraffes become more comfortable with the new space.

Foot traffic has been closed through the new exhibit since construction started, requiring guests to walk clockwise around the Western edge to access the East side of the zoo. Starting Tuesday, guests will once again be able to make the full loop around the property.

If you walk in the main gates and take a right, the path will take you through the zoo’s new cafe and gift shop, into the new Giraffe Center indoor space, out into the new outdoor yard and connect you to the rest of the zoo.

The grand-opening celebration is Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. It is open to the public.

CMZ is timed-entry only. As of 6 a.m. Tuesday morning, there were still timed-entry tickets available for 9 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

If you would like to go to the grand opening, you must purchase timed-entry tickets for the 9:00 to 9:30 a.m. time slot. You can find them here.

Stay up to date with the latest local news, sports, and investigations by downloading the KRDO13 app. Click here to download it from the Apple App Store. Android users can download it from Google Play here.

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Scott Harrison

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — If you’ve driven along 8th Street on the city’s southwest side this summer, you may have wondered why progress seems to have stalled on the improvements project that started last June.

Specifically, the water main replacement appears to have settled in front of the Walmart, and work remains unfinished on the Fountain Creek bridge — the two main phases of the overall project.

Ryan Phipps, the city’s capital improvements manager, and Cassie Melvin, a spokesperson for Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU), recently met with KRDO 13’s The Road Warrior to explain the reasons for the delays.

Melvin said that the water main replacement is held up by two things: city stormwater upgrades in the construction zone and connecting the water main to service lines of several businesses along the block of Abbot Lane.

She said that the water main work should continue north on 8th Street in a few weeks.

Meanwhile, Phipps said that crews expect to resume repairs on the west side of the creek bridge next week, when a concrete girder arrives.

The overall project began with repairs on the east side of the 75-year-old bridge and the installation of a wider sidewalk, but a later inspection found that the west side needs more repairs than expected.

Melvin said that the water main should be finished late this year or early next year, while Phipps said that the bridgework should be completed by the end of the year.

The city still has to install curbs, gutters, and sidewalks where they currently don’t exist along the street, then repave the stretch from Cimarron Street to Motor City Drive.

Phipps expects the project to end late next spring.

The project has required occasional changes to traffic patterns through the construction zone; the latest began on Monday and tightens turns at the 8th Street/Abbot Lane/Lower Gold Camp Road intersection.

Drivers have been frustrated with the lane closures, turn restrictions, and bumpy travel through the work area.

Travel has also been challenging for pedestrians, who have encountered closed sidewalks; on Monday, a homeless woman pushing a full shopping cart with her belongings and a man riding his horse tried to navigate the intersection.

The city and CSU said that they understand the frustration and thank drivers for their continued patience and cooperation.

Businesses in the area remain open and accessible.

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Josh Helmuth

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) — One Pueblo teacher just got some pretty big recognition — and he found out about it in a surprise visit to his classroom.

Fifth-grade teacher Arjun Sahdev teaches at Minnequa Elementary and he’s now one of just eight finalists for Colorado Teacher of the Year — and that’s out of 297 applicants from 76 school districts across the state.

Sahdev is in his sixth year at Minnequa and came to Pueblo District 60 through Teach For America. He was also named D-60’s Elementary Teacher of the Year last school year.

Education Commissioner Susan Cordova surprised Arjun in his classroom recently to tell him he made the finalist list.

She praised him for shaping his teaching and classroom to meet the community’s needs. She said it shows his dedication and “commitment to every aspect of the students and their lives.”

Katie Harshman, his principal, said he represents so much of what makes Minnequa special, saying, “He leads through his actions and builds genuine relationships.”

We’re told Arjun is also known for bringing enthusiasm and creativity into the classroom.

As a finalist, he’ll receive a $1,000 award. The Colorado Teacher of the Year will be announced later this fall.

Is there someone or something remarkable at your school? Email Josh! SchoolBuzz@KRDO.com

Stay up to date with the latest local news, sports, and investigations by downloading the KRDO13 app. Click here to download it from the Apple App Store. Android users can download it from Google Play here.

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