Colorado Springs’ public works director discusses response to water flow on Dublin Boulevard
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- A day after the city sponsored an open house to inform citizens about an upcoming improvement project on Dublin Boulevard, the public works director talked about how it will address an underground spring that has become a traffic concern on part of the street.
Richard Mulledy discussed the matter Wednesday while attending the annual snowplow training for 130 public works employees ahead of the winter weather season.
He said that his office began receiving reports from citizens several months ago about spring water flowing across the eastbound lanes of Dublin, neat the Peterson Road intersection.
"It's gotten worse this summer because of irrigation," he explained. "People watering their lawns, rainy weather. All of that increases the groundwater in the area."
Twice, Mulledy said, crews have cut into the pavement to install underground drains that transport the water into nearby Sand Creek.
Many homeowners have similar drains around their foundations to redirect groundwater," he said. "But we can't keep cutting into the pavement on Dublin because every cut creates another point where groundwater can seep out."
According to Mulledy, the long-term solution is to install a larger network of underground drains -- also known as French drains -- as part of the $15 million Dublin Improvements Project scheduled to start next spring and end in the fall of 2026.
"I expect that the flow will decrease as we get into colder weather because we'll generally have drier conditions and less irrigation," he said. "But we need kind of a grid system to take care of the groundwater. We decided the best way to address it is through a capital improvement project."
Still, drivers and neighbors are worried about how colder weather may freeze the water flow and turn that part of Dublin into a sheet of ice.
"We're going to watch that very carefully," he said. "We're not going to let it become a hazard."
A French drain solved a similar situation in late 2020, on the east side of the 8th Street hill near Motor City.
A spring near the curb produced a continuous flow of water into a gutter that drained into a sewer at the bottom of the hill; in colder weather, the water became a thick sheet of ice that blocked the bike lane, spilled over into the right traffic lane and made driving difficult for residents and businesses on the east side of the block.
Business owners would occasionally try to remove the ice blocking driveways, and at times the city would send a front-end loader to break the ice apart and remove it.
The city finally installed a French drain that moved the water to the gutter on the opposite side of the street -- which has more sunshine and much less ice formation, and has no businesses or driveways to affect.
