Category: krdo-local-news

Scott Harrison

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — A project that The Road Warrior first reported on last April, and was scheduled to start the following month, is finally getting underway at the interchange of US 24, Peterson Road, and Space Village Avenue.

Officials stated that the right southbound lane of Peterson, between the US 24 overpass and the north gate of Peterson Space Force Base, will be closed for three weeks for the first phase of work.

Courtesy: City of Colorado Springs

The closure allows workers to install a storm sewer; the left southbound lane will remain open for base access.

Gayle Sturdivant, the city’s deputy director of public works, said that the project is starting later than intended as officials awaited the arrival of federal funding for the $15.3 million effort — two-thirds of which was provided by an infrastructure grant from the U.S. Department of Defense.

“When you get grant awards, they are sometimes for future monies, or you have to go through grant agreements,” she explained. “So, even though you know you’re going to get the money when you can physically have access to it, the timing can be a little bit different.”

Since 2017, local leaders have studied how to address what they describe as present and future “extreme” traffic congestion in the area.

Officials have revealed that traffic in and out of the base recently has been slowed by two projects: the construction of a new interchange at Airport Road and Powers Boulevard, which leads to the main entrance at the west gate, and a utility project outside the east gate along Marksheffel Road.

Additionally, Peterson’s leadership wants to change its north gate configuration to correspond with the latest improvement project, and that likely will result in more daytime traffic.

Previously, the north gate was the main entrance into the installation.

“They were asking us to get more people in that queue, to get in that southbound lane to go into that gate,” Sturdivant said. “We actually have taken over control of that signal right there — the traffic signal — so we can get more folks queued up to go into the gate, through security.”

The project’s overall focus is to improve travel onto and off of the base — not just for traffic, but also for pedestrians, cyclists, and trail users.

A major feature of the project involves building two roundabouts just north and south of the US 24 interchange.

In The Road Warrior’s April 2025 story, managers at several of the eight businesses in a Space Village shopping center expressed concern about how the project may affect them and their customers, citing negative impacts to businesses at some other projects.

Officials expect to finish the project early next year.

Partners in the project include Colorado Springs, El Paso County, the U.S. Department of Defense, Peterson Space Force Base, the Colorado Department of Transportation, and the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments.

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Scott Harrison

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) — Residents of one of the Steel City’s oldest neighborhoods are surprised to learn that the job of rebuilding crumbling streets is not the responsibility of public works crews.

Instead, a Denver-based developer is supposed to improve the streets as part of a project to build a luxury apartment complex on a bluff above the west banks of the Arkansas River.

The situation involves four to five streets around the intersection of Pearl Street and Chapa Place, just south of the 4th Street Bridge — an area with several homes and two vacant land parcels.

Records indicate that the developer received a city building permit in late 2023 to build The Bluffs, a six-story complex of nearly 100 units offering views of the downtown skyline and the collection of colorful murals along the river levee.

However, construction has yet to begin, and the street conditions continue to worsen.

The streets in that neighborhood are a combination of paved and unpaved surfaces, marked by cracked asphalt, a layer of small stones, and numerous potholes — some of which look more like small ponds.

Few sidewalks, curbs, and gutters exist in the area.

Neighbors said that the complex is supposed to be built at the intersection of Pearl and Sumner Avenue.

Rose Mary Mauro, a neighbor for 15 years, said that the streets have gradually deteriorated during that time.

Her biggest concern is that the street conditions make it difficult for people with disabilities and seniors to navigate the two steep routes down to White Water Park, along the river.

“One of the trails has a sidewalk on the lower end, but no sidewalk on the upper end,” Mauro explained. “At least someone could build a sidewalk that would connect directly to the residents here, and to the complex residents — assuming the developer actually builds it.”

Andrew Hayes, the city’s public works director, sent a crew into the neighborhood this week to fill some of the potholes and stabilize the streets somewhat for the present.

“It’s a private project, so we’re not driving it,” he said. “It’s not our timeline. But when that project occurs, those improvement obligations come along with that project. So that (is) 180 days, technically speaking, from the time they pull their building permit.”

The Road Warrior has tried to contact the developer for comment and awaits a response.

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Josh Helmuth

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — A Colorado Springs principal is celebrating a personal championship that his students can certainly aspire to.

Jamie Lester, the principal at Eagleview Middle School (D20), is now a national champion in pickleball, winning gold at Nationals in San Diego this past fall. Lester also made it to the semis with his double partner in the doubles category.

What’s really crazy is that Lester has only been playing the sport for roughly two years.

Lester says he won a trip to Nationals after winning a USA Pickleball “Golden Ticket” tournament in Colorado Springs. He only picked up the paddle to compete with his dad in friendly competition.

Do you know someone remarkable at your school? Email us! SchoolBuzz@KRDO.com.

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Bradley Davis

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – Writing is hard. For two years, a local writer has done her part to break the first barrier for any aspiring creative: Getting something on paper.

Jacqueline Moulton hosts a free open mic for the literary arts every month at the Cottonwood Center for the Arts in Colorado Springs. Each month, her group votes on the theme for the following meeting. On Friday, it’s, “Last night I dreamed of a fish, again.”

Jacqueline is the writer and artist behind the love letter vending machine at the Coati food hall. She said the biggest thing writers need is community and a motivating factor to push themselves outside of class or their day jobs.

“It’s really like being courageous in our creativity,” Moulton said. “I think we can’t be our full selves unless we do something creative. It’s a really important sacred task for every human being to express themselves, and so there’s a space that people can express themselves in a safe place, and so you get to be brave.”

Doors open at 6:45 p.m. for Friday’s session. The session is from 7 to 8:30 p.m. It’s free, and everyone is welcome. It is not required to speak. Guests are encouraged to come and listen.

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Scott Harrison

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — In case the holidays kept you too busy to see The Road Warrior’s report a week before Christmas, updating the nearly three-year project to improve a 1.5-mile stretch of I-25, we’re bringing you another look at the progress to date.

Work started in the fall of 2023 and is scheduled to end late this summer.

The project’s $62 million cost makes it one of the most expensive in the city’s history, and it is ambitious in its objectives, covering a relatively small area.

The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) recently opened the three new northbound lanes that are wider, with wider shoulders and guardrails; the new alignment also straightened out a sharp curve there.

During that construction, driving was more challenging because of narrower lanes, the lack of nighttime lighting, rough pavement, and the absence of shoulders to pull over in an emergency.

The same changes will be made on the southbound side.

Another accomplishment was to replace twin bridges on I-25 above Ellston Street and tear down the old structures.

“What they’re working on now (under the bridges) is pulling out all of the hot mix asphalt that was laid, so that a new water line can be placed,” said Amber Shipley of CDOT. “To get that new pavement down, so that Ellston Street can resume travel. It’s been closed since the project began.

Crews also increased the amount of drainage infrastructure in the area.

East of the new northbound alignment between I-25 and Sinton Road, you can see a vacant area where crews will start building an additional lane designed to increase safety and reduce a congestion bottleneck for drivers trying to merge onto and off of the freeway.

“Having a place that you can merge on and off the interstate that’s dedicated to that purpose, rather than having to interfere with the main travel lanes, is really the goal of that project,” Shipley explained. “Drivers will be able to travel between the two interchanges without having to leave the lane.”

A similar lane — referred to as an acceleration/deceleration lane — will be built on the southbound side.

Eventually, crews will build a concrete wall in the center median and repave lanes in both directions.

This spring, CDOT plans to perform extensive repair work on the I-25 bridge above Garden of the Gods Road; that work will require some full bridge closures during overnight hours on weekends.

“We hope to finish that work in two weekends,” Shipley said.

On Wednesday morning, CDOT clarified that the acceleration/deceleration lanes have already been built, but are being used for traffic until crews complete the inner road shoulders there.

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Michael Logerwell

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – It could be the first time ever a Colorado Springs City Councilor walked out during a discussion over a proclamation.

The City Council is home to a lot of spirited discussion, but that typically doesn’t happen when proclamations are on the table; the council doesn’t even take a vote on them.

On Tuesday, a proclamation surrounding Martin Luther King Jr. Day was too much for one member to handle when conversations turned to ICE.

During the public comment portion of the discussion pertaining to the proclamation, local religious leaders who spoke evoked strong parallels from Dr. King’s work decades ago to current events.

“In this moment of our nation’s history, I’m compelled to state this truth. The violent, authoritarian actions of immigration and customs enforcement, including the murder of Colorado Springs, his own Renee Nicole Good, is a stain on the fabric of history,” said Rev. Candace Wood. Other religious colleagues echoed that sentiment.

But then it was the council’s turn to speak.

“I want to say that I fully support ICE in their activities,” said Dave Donelson, pushing back hard.

“I find what was said here offensive, and I didn’t even like sitting here listening to it,” said Donelson, leaving before a pre-planned photo-op.

KRDO13 reached out to Donelson to further clarify the reason behind his walkout. He pointed back to something he said during the meeting, “I won’t sit at the dais and let ‘faith leaders’ lie about the good Americans who are trying to enforce our immigration laws. We either have a border and enforce our immigration laws, or we are done as a nation”.

After the photo-op, Councilor Donelson returned to his post for the rest of the meeting.

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Bradley Davis

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – First Tee Southern Colorado said it is expanding its girls golf and Pueblo programming after winning a $5,000 grant from the US Golf Association (USGA).

“Golf has always been male dominant and so really growing the female engagement in golf has been such a huge focus for me and a priority so being able to grow girls golf specifically in pueblo, a county we are really trying to grow and make golf more accessible, it’s been a huge success,” said Director of Operations Emily Ortmeier, who is also a LPGA Pro.

First Tee Southern Colorado is the local branch of the national First Tee non-profit. It has an indoor facility off of N. Academy in Colorado Springs with an indoor putting green, driving range and simulator. It’s open to the public from Nov. 1 through May 1.

The relationships between our coaches and the kids, and that mentorship relationship, and watching them really growing and learning and having somebody walking beside them for their journey. For me, that’s the biggest part of it,” Chief Executive Officer Sandy Johnson said.

First Tee was camps and programming for boys and girls ages three to 18 across four Southern Colorado counties: El Paso, Pueblo, Teller and Fremont. The programming costs money, but the organization said it will never turn a child away because of costs.

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Scott Harrison

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — With an extended full closure of Galley Road already frustrating many neighbors and drivers, the last thing they want to hear about is more lane closures on that street.

But on Monday, Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) closed a lane in each direction on Galley between Parkway — the south entrance to the Quail Hill Mobile Home Community — and Babcock Road, leaving one lane open in each direction.

If it’s any consolation to residents in that area, the lane closures should end on Thursday afternoon; the closures are only a few blocks east of the ongoing full closure for a bridge replacement.

CSU stated that the new lane closures will enable crews to replace a water service line connecting the water main to an appliance repair business.

The project is unique, CSU explained, because the utility’s records don’t indicate the presence of a second service line there.

CSU replaced a water main along that stretch of Galley last year, which required replacing service lines to businesses and residences — including a service line at the appliance repair business.

Each of the two service lines is connected to a separate building on the property.

KRDO 13’s The Road Warrior spoke with several employees of the business, who said that they contacted CSU after noticing water from the second line smelled and tasted strange.

CSU is covering the cost of replacing the service line.

The replacement requires crews to dig a trench through part of the business property, the sidewalk, and a section of the street; a portion of the sidewalk in that area is also closed.

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Celeste Springer

Reporting by photojournalist Collin Willis contributed to this article.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — The Chamber Orchestra of Colorado Springs debuted a piece honoring the lives lost in the Club Q mass shooting.

This weekend, the orchestra performed the piece called “Somewhere Bluebirds Fly.” The opening melody is composed entirely of notes reflecting the first initial of each victim: A for Ashley Paugh, C for Kelly Loving, G for Raymond Green Vance, and D for both Daniel Aston and Derrick Rump.

RELATED: Chamber Orchestra turns initials of Club Q victims into musical notes to commemorate the lost

“I hope [those listening] have a moment of reflection. I hope they see the beauty in the chaos, feel empathy, and hope,” said violinist Kelly Dean Pilarczyk. “Hope for the future.”

Just before midnight on Nov. 19, 2022, a gunman opened fire inside Club Q, killing five and injuring 20 others. Derrick Rump, Daniel Aston, Kelly Loving, Raymond Green Vance, and Ashley Paugh were shot and ultimately killed. The memory of those lost still lingers in the minds of many.

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Bradley Davis

DIVIDE, Co. (KRDO) – After over a foot of snow late last week, Mueller State Park saw one of its busiest weekends of the season so far as the park could finally groom and open its XC ski tracks.

Mueller has not escaped the impacts of Colorado’s warm and dry winter this year. Temperatures have been downright pleasant much of December and January. It culminated in a very warm start to the new year and elevated foot traffic for the park’s annual First Day Hike on Jan. 1. Finally, the warm hike goers are giving way to the winter snowshoe and XC ski enthusiasts.

“We’ve been getting Facebook messages for months about, ‘When will the groomed trails be open?'” said Mueller State Park Naturalist Anna Miller. “We had a trailhead that was near the groomed trailhead that was completely full,” Miller said about this past weekend.

The park was transformed overnight by the snow from Thursday into Friday. All of its cross-country ski trails are now open, and guests can finally break out the snowshoes.

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