Contractor hired for No Man's Land project as cost rises to $30.9 million

Contractor hired for No Man's Land project as cost rises to $30.9 million

This is the most recent schedule for the Westside Avenue Action Plan (WAAP), which is also known as "No Man's Land," or for government budgeting purposes the "West Colorado Avenue" project. It shows that the WAAP planning started in 2012 (green) and that work could start in December (red) and conclude around the end of 2018. The orange "CDOT Overlay to Manitou" designation refers to a separate Colorado Department of Transportation project around Manitou's Highway 24 interchange that started in late September and is planned for completion by the end of November.

Courtesy of Felsburg, Holt and Ullevig

Although Colorado Springs officials complained about having to pay significantly more than originally planned, they did not block the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority (RTA) board Nov. 9 from hiring a contractor to rebuild the area known as “No Man's Land.”
       It has not yet been detailed how soon Wildcat Construction (the contractor) will start work or where, but previous information from El Paso County has indicated that initial activities could get going before Christmas, with the initial concentration on the Manitou Springs part of the avenue.
       Envisioned over the past decade and formalized through a contracted study/design effort since 2012 called the Westside Avenue Action Plan (WAAP), the project will upgrade a 1.3-mile segment of Colorado/Manitou Avenue from 31st Street to just east of Manitou's Highway 24 interchange. Coordinated by County Engineering, the work is to include storm sewers, underground utilities, sidewalks, a trail extension and a new traffic bridge over Fountain Creek at Columbia Road.
       In comments to the board, County Engineer Jennifer Irvine said the infrastructure improvements should attract commercial investments, which will in turn boost tax

County Engineer Jennifer Irvine.

Courtesy of El Paso County

revenues, including those coming to the RTA through its 1-cent sales tax.
       The RTA consists of member governments in El Paso County that charge the tax, and their elected representatives serve on the RTA board, determining how the revenues are spent on transportation needs.
       The Nov. 10 RTA meeting revealed that the three governments affected by WAAP (the county, Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs) need to pay about twice as much as estimated in 2012 when the project was approved by voters as an RTA A-list item.
       Wildcat's $19.7 million contract itself is well above the $12.2 million estimate provided to voters then. At that time, many specifics were not yet known about the project area, pointed out Steve Murray, the lead engineer for the project design consultant - Felsburg, Holt and Ullevig (FHU) - in a separate interview. Also, he explained, the multi-government project team, aided by public input, had not yet made decisions about such pivotal issues as road width, bridge construction, trail layout, creek alignment, intersection reconfigurations, property acquisition and utility/stormwater undergrounding.
       The county's figures show that costs related to those issues, on top of the construction contract (and including FHU's planning and design fees of $4.3 million since 2012), have raised the current, overall project tab to $30.9 million.
       Some of those costs are being (or have been) paid by other entities, but formally WAAP is a joint project of the three participating governments under the working name of "West Colorado Avenue." The payment shares for each are based on percentages that were established at the outset.
       In 2012, the shares were as follows: Colorado Springs, $8.6 million; El Paso County, $3.4 million; and Manitou Springs, $150,000.
       Now, according to the county's figures, Colorado Springs must pay an additional $8.4 million, the county $3.4 million and Manitou $146,000.
       At one point in the Nov. 9 RTA meeting, Colorado Springs City Council President (and RTA board member) Merv Bennett, supported by Transportation Manager Kathleen Krager, said that the city's new share is so high that it would like to have a 30-day delay to analyze where to find the money - and Mayor John Suthers would even have to get involved.
       For its $3.4 million share, El Paso County transferred money from a lower-priority project and is also temporarily covering Manitou's portion, Irvine told the RTA board.
       Bennett later joined the county and Manitou in supporting the contract approval for Wildcat.
       The effect is that the project is moving forward without delay, County Commissioner Sallie Clark clarified afterward.

Westside Pioneer article
(Posted 11/10/16; Projects: No Man's Land)

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