Scott Harrison
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — The four-laned Banning Lewis Parkway (BLP) now has a shorter and more direct route in and out of the growing, sprawling community of Banning Lewis Ranch (BLR) in the city’s northeastern corner.
At 10:30 a.m. Monday, city officials opened BLP’s connection to Woodmen Road, giving residents an option to using the parkway’s west end at Dublin Boulevard.
The parkway was closed several blocks south between Woodmen and Water Meadow Drive; late last week, crews worked on testing and synchronizing traffic signals at the new intersection.
Officials said that the intersection would be partially open during the weekend, with a full opening on Monday morning.
The timing of the new intersection is convenient for residents as construction gears up on an improvement project along Dublin, west of Marksheffel Road; and on the widening of Marksheffel between Dublin south to Barnes Road.
“As BLR has started and developed particularly in proximity to the Woodmen Road area, the only way to really get in and out of that area previously had been Dublin,” Gayle Sturdivant, the city’s deputy director of public works, explained. “Barnes will (eventually) go from BLP to Marksheffel, so there’ll be a third connection there within about a year.”
BLP currently ends to the south at Stetson Hills Boulevard; Stetson Hills doesn’t connect yet to the parkway at Marksheffel to the west, but it appears it likely will in the future.
Dylan and Laura Perry are preparing to move into a house in BLR, and are excited about the new intersection just around the corner from them.
From where we live, it’ll be just straight shots,” said Dylan. “It’s a great way to avoid all of the construction that’s happening around here.”
The Perrys were married nearly two years ago and have two kids.
“This is a perfect, perfect option for taking the kids to school or going to the grocery store,” Laura said. It’ll be so much easier.”
The new intersection has sidewalks, pedestrian crossings and dedicated lanes for traffic turning onto and from BLP; at least two retention ponds have been built to handle additional stormwater runoff.
Workers have also extended the parkway several blocks north of Woodmen, to the Percheron Pony Drive intersection, where there is room for a possible future extension.
A unique aspect of the new BLP/Woodmen intersection is that it was built not by the city, but by two of BLR’s homebuilders — Oakwood Homes and Norwood Development Group.
The importance of BLP increases as more homes continue to be built in and around BLR.
Sturdivant said that developers east of Marksheffel — including BLR — are responsible for building roads there, in accordance with the city’s master transportation plan.
“They’ll be under city maintenance within a couple of years after the two-year warranty period in the development and they pass our inspection,” she said.
Busier roads like BLP may need maintenance in seven to ten years, Sturdivant added, but neighborhood streets with less traffic may not need maintenance for 15 to 25 years.
The question is will the city’s limited street maintenance budget be enough to perform necessary maintenance as roads from new development east of Marksheffel are added; the city’s falling behind in maintenance during past administrations led to voters approving and twice extending the 2C sales tax increase for extra street repaving.
“As our city grows, we would hope that our sales tax base grows in the proportionate amount to really help maintain the additional assets we take on,” Sturdivant said. “But, it is something we always are concerned about — making sure we have the necessary resources. Whether it be personnel, whether it be money to be able to address our infrastructure maintenance needs as growth happens.”
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