Colorado Springs intersection prone to flash flooding now permanently closed for safety improvements

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — One of the city's most notorious areas for flash flooding is the target of a two-year, $11 million project to improve drainage and increase safety.

The project, which KRDO 13 has reported on extensively since 2019, is at the intersection of Siferd Boulevard and Date Street, a block east of the busy Academy Boulevard/Austin Bluffs Parkway intersection.

"I think there have been more high-water or swift-water rescues at that intersection than anywhere else in the city," said Richard Mulledy, the city's public works director. "So we're going to close it permanently."

The three-way intersection is near the Park Vista South neighborhood but is also in the middle of the Templeton Gap Floodway, a drainage channel that eventually flows under Academy.

During rainstorms, water can flow several feet high and at strong velocity across the intersection and into the other side of the channel.

In 2019, the city installed three flood gates — monitored by a local fire station — and closed the intersection during flash flood warnings.

A final solution to the problem took time to reach because the intersection is within one of the city's many enclaves — pockets of El Paso County surrounded by city jurisdiction.

In March 2023, the city and county reached an agreement: The city annexed the area and will split the project cost with the county.

However, the agreement allows individual neighbors to decide if they want to remain county residents or become city residents.

The project will convert the three streets at the intersection into cul-de-sacs, allowing stormwater to continue flowing through without damage to property or riak of flash flooding to drivers.

Mulledy explained that crews will install drop structures in the channel upstream from the intersection to take some homes out of the flood plain, and to slow the velocity of water draining across the former intersection and into the opposite side of the channel.

"We'd like to keep 100-year flood events within the channel," he said. "In that area, you can't do it just because of the way it's there. So, you will have -- in the highest flood flows -- a small amount of that water come out of its banks. But we're talking inches, and really, this effort minimizes that impact and makes it a lot safer."

Mulledy said that the project should be finished by the end of next year.

Drivers have mixed feelings about it.

"It's awesome," said Jon Moser, who turned around after learning of the closure. "Definitely needed within the area. Just happy that the infrastructure is getting done in our town."

Dean Brown added: "I hate the fact that they're blocking access to Austin Bluffs from here. We have to go through the business parking lots."

Direct access to the neighborhood is now via North Carefree Circle, Half Turn Road and Hollow Road.

City officials said that they will also pave Siferd and Date Streets around the construction, at the end of the project; many viewers have asked for it because of numerous large and deep potholes there.