Sound wall installation begins on South Academy Boulevard expansion project in El Paso County

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- The sound walls that drivers are accustomed to seeing along Interstate 25 in Colorado Springs and Pueblo are now being installed along the south end of South Academy Boulevard.

That's where the ongoing 1.5-mile widening project continues between the freeway and Milton E. Proby Parkway.

As of early Wednesday morning, workers had installed a dozen panels along the south side of the corridor, and will eventually place them on the opposite side to protect the Stratmoor Valley neighborhood from noise produced by increasing traffic from two to three lanes in each direction.

Recently, residents have faced challenges entering and exiting the neighborhood because there are only two roads that connect them to South Academy -- Hartford Street on the south side and Coventry Drive on the north side.

Both have been, and continue to be, occasionally closed for construction.

The sound wall placement comes at what is roughly the project's halfway point; it includes widening the bridge over Bradley Road; paving and improving drainage in the corridor.

Last November, crews discovered that repair work was necessary on the support pillars for the two South Academy bridges above Fountain Creek; those repairs took several months.

Drivers should be aware of occasional overnight lane closures, and merging onto South Academy at the I-25, Bradley Road and Highway 85/87 interchanges because of little or no space to merge as normal.

This is an El Paso County project and the only unfinished phase of the MAMSIP projects designed to improve safety and traffic flow around our military installations.

Construction started in the summer of 2023 and won't be finished until spring of 2026.