Tourists reflect on paving in Garden of the Gods

We’re not used to seeing heavy equipment for paving in Garden of the Gods, but visitors will have to get used to it for the next several weeks.

Colorado Springs officials hope to ease the situation for tourists by paving only at night, but the park will close at 8 p.m. instead of 11 p.m. during the paving period.

Crews began working on Ridge Road on the south side of the park Wednesday, grinding down the old asphalt surface to prepare for the coming new layer.

City officials said it’s been 10 years since the last paving project in Garden of the Gods.

Many tourists said the park’s roads could be better, but aren’t terrible.

“They’re a lot worse than this in the Midwest,” said one tourist. “But I’m glad they’re doing something about it.”

“I saw potholes,” another tourist said. “But the speed limit is low enough to give you time to avoid them.”

A recent survey rated Garden of the Gods the nation’s best park, and the world’s second best.

Since the city’s 2C expanded paving project officially began in late May, crews have expanded paving to include popular roads in North Cheyenne Caon Park and Garden of the Gods.

Measure 2C, passed by voters last fall, raised the city’s sales tax to generate $250 million in the next five years for additional paving.

Crews are not necessarily paving streets in the worst condition, but those in high-traffic areas that haven’t been paved in recent years.

The city said the additional paving should decrease the need for constant pothole repairs. Eight crews are continuing to fill potholes during the week.

A major project expected to start soon, the reconstruction of Centennial Boulevard, is being financed with money from the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority’s 1-cent sales tax. Voters in five local municipalities approved the tax in 2004.