Paving in Ute Pass is separate from larger Highway 24 job

Some repaving work on U.S. 24 near the El Paso/Teller county line has some drivers wondering if the current long-term repaving of the highway has been extended.

On Tuesday, workers began repaving a mile of westbound U.S. 24 near Green Mountain Falls in El Paso County.

Brad Bauer, a supervisor with the Colorado Department of Transportation, said the work is only a maintenance project and is not related to the current project to resurface eight miles of the highway between west Colorado Springs through Manitou Springs.

“But this project is only a few miles west of where we’re starting work on that project, so I can see where people might think they’re the same,” he said. “This is a smaller project approved by the state highway commission that costs around $100,000 and is a more efficient way to fill potholes. This stretch really needs it. We haven’t done any work here in a long time.”

Bauer said workers should finish the project Wednesday afternoon.

“We plan to be off the highway by 3 p.m. on both days to avoid affecting rush-hour traffic,” he said.

Traffic is reduced to one lane in the construction zone.

CDOT maintenance projects are generally done during the day.

“We just finished one on U.S. 24 near Peterson Air Force Base,” he said. “We have another one planned for Highway 115.”

Regarding the long-term repaving project, Bauer said it’s progressing well.

“We’re milling there now, grinding off the old pavement eastbound on the west end just past Manitou Springs,” he said. “All of that work will be done at night.”

Although CDOT officials earlier said the repaving would be finished by the end of the year, Bauer said only the eastbound repaving will be completed by then.

“The westbound repaving will be done next year,” he said.

As that project gets closer to Manitou Springs and Colorado Springs, CDOT is asking drivers to use Colorado Avenue as a detour.

However, the east end of Colorado Avenue is currently under construction and congested with traffic as workers finish an improvement project there.

“We don’t know how well that detour will work until detoured traffic starts going through there,” Bauer said. “We’re hoping it won’t be a problem since the repaving will happen at night.”

The project will cost around $12 million.