Project to repave six miles of South Nevada Avenue, Highway 115 in Colorado Springs begins Monday

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — What's commonly considered one of the city's worst roadway stretches is finally getting some much-needed and long-overdue attention.

On Monday, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) will start repaving the six-mile corridor between Brookside Street at the south end of Nevada Avenue(a few blocks west of Interstate 25), through the Southgate area where Nevada becomes Highway 115, to Fort Carson's main gate (Nelson Boulevard).

Crews will start on the northbound side of the corridor, moving from The Mountain Post to Brookside; the paving work will occur at night to reduce traffic impacts, one one lane of traffic will remain open in the direction of the paving.

A plaque on the median near the four-way intersection of Nevada, 115, Cheyenne Road and Southgate Road indicates that the last major improvements at the north end of the corridor came in 1987.

In the nearly 40 years since, population growth and traffic congestion have increased significantly; the roadway is full of potholes, patches, cracks and crumbling areas.

The worst segment appears to be the northernmost mile between Brookside and the Lake Avenue interchange.

Drivers expressed positive, even excited, reaction to the announcement.

"Oh, my God! The roads are really bad!" said Natalie Padilla. "I think that's going to be really good. I feel like it'll be better on my tires. I've had to replace two new tires on my car already."

Jacob Wolverton said that he doesn't drive the route much, but is familiar with its deteriorating condition.

"It sounds like a relief, actually," he said. "It's good to know that our tax dollars are being used for something that's needed -- besides something that's totally irrelevant, like a lot of the things in our country have gone to."

The project includes replacing guardrails, updating pedestrian signals, and replacing curbs and entrance-exit ramps (at the Lake and South Academy Boulevard interchanges) that meet federal disability requirements.

CDOT expects to finish the $10.4 million project by the end of September.

Many drivers list the south side corridor — along with Fountain Expressway, Highway 85/87, sections of Woodmen Road and Circle Drive — as the city's roughest roads to drive on.

However, the west end of Woodmen is scheduled for repaving this year, and one section of 85/87 was repaved last year around a new signal installation and traffic realignment at the Carson Boulevard intersection.