Westside's road-closure summer: Detours needed, flaggers omnipresent

21st Street from Colorado Avenue to Highway 24 is getting a makeover this year, first with the replacement of a large water main by Colorado Springs Utilites (above) and, scheduled to start in mid-July, a 2C project to rebuild the roadway, upgrade the bridge and add a pedestrian/bike path. A full closure at the bridge is expected to last until September.
Westside Pioneer photo

Westside’s road-closure summer: Detours needed, flaggers omnipresent

July 3, 2018
       This seems to be the summer for Westside road closures.
       Drivers have been forced to find detours around lengthily barricaded segments of several well-traveled roadways.
       And of course there's Colorado Avenue west of 31st Street, which continues to be narrowed to one lane with flaggers for the Westside Avenue Action Plan (WAAP).

A view west on Colorado Avenue shows the controlled mayhem of the Westside Avenue Action Plan work, including flaggers directing traffic and closures (left) at Ridge Road and farther on (as the sign states) at Columbia Road.
Westside Pioneer photo

The upside is that all the closures are for upgrades or repairs. So later this year, everyone can look forward (with fingers crossed) to smoother rides and less congestion.
Here are nutshell reports on each of the shut-down segments:

21st Street (Colorado Avenue to Highway 24) - much of this segment was closed in early June to let Colorado Springs Utilities replace 1,200 feet of water main. Crews with a city road-rebuilding project under the 2C road-tax program will need to close it for another six to eight weeks, according to project manager Ryan Phipps with City Engineering - at least at the Fountain Creek bridge, where a water-proof membrane is being installed. Closure started: June. Planned reopening: September.

Columbia Road (Colorado Avenue to Pikes Peak Avenue) - underground utilities and road rebuild for the Westside Avenue Action Plan (WAAP), including a Columbia widening. Closure started: June. Planned reopening: September.

Ridge Road (Highway 24 to Colorado Avenue) - underground utilities and a roadway rebuild for WAAP. The rebuild will include permanent

From April until late June, 24th Street was blocked for several blocks north of Pikes Peak Avenue for a Colorado Springs Utilities water main replacement. This photo looks north from Pikes Peak Avenue. City contractors upgrading/replacing sidewalks, curbs and gutters under the 2C road-tax program are slated to start on 24th between Uintah Street and Wolff Place in mid-July, but the street will remain open for that work, according to a city spokesperson. By the end of 2018, 24th Street all the way from Pikes Peak to Wolff is scheduled for fresh concrete and paving under 2C.
Westside Pioneer photo

barricades/signage at Ridge and the highway, as the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) is preventing Ridge motorists at the highway from crossing or turning left. Closure started: June. Planned reopening: September.
Here is scheduled work this summer on major roads (ones not advertised as having full closures):

24th Street (Pikes Peak Avenue to Wolff Place) - Concrete (with paving afterward) is scheduled to start in mid-July under 2C between Uintah Street and Wolff. Editor's note: Based on prior information from Colorado Springs Utilities, the print edition of the July-August Westside Pioneer listed the Uintah-Pikes Peak segment as being fully closed until August because of a water-main replacement that had started there in April. However, that job finished sooner than expected (in late June) and the road has since reopened.

Highway 24 at Ridge Road - the above-noted CDOT barricade work will also occur in the highway and on Ridge south of it.

Highway 24 at 31st Street - a CDOT project will more than double the length of the left-turn lane for eastbound highway traffic.

Walnut Street (from Colorado Avenue to Boulder Street) - 2C repaving and restriping from four traffic lanes to two with bike lanes.
       Other road news:
       - WAAP has permanently shut off Ridge Road between Colorado and Pikes Peak avenues for a pedestrian/bike plaza. The project has also required temporary closures of side streets and parts of the avenue itself. WAAP underground utility work is moving east on the avenue toward 31st Street, meaning lane reductions and flaggers.
       - The opening of the avenue's new Adams Crossing Bridge over Fountain Creek, once predicted for May 2018, is now slated for September.

Westside Pioneer article
(Transportation: Major Roads)

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