UPDATE: Water flow, ice buildup problem on 8th Street hill in Colorado Springs nearly solved

Published December 16, 2020 1:09 PM

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- (Tuesday, Dec. 29) -- A crew has started the process of boring under a section of the 8th Street hill, creating a path for a pipe that will divert water from a spring and eliminate thick ice buildup.

You can see photos of the work below:

(Monday, Dec. 21) -- Workers began preparing a 10-inch-wide pipe for installation under a hill on 8th Street to divert the flow of water from an underground spring that contributed to heavy ice accumulations.

On Tuesday, workers will bore a path under the northeast side of the four-lane hill between Olympic Village Drive and Motor City Drive where the pipe will be placed.

They said the project, which started last week, should be finished by Christmas, after a city crew finishes concrete work.

The pipe will move the steady trickle of spring water from the shady side of the street to the sunny side, which is warmer and less likely to promote ice buildup.

The water will then drain down the hill into Bear Creek.

The project will end years of ice deposits that blocked driveways to nearby businesses and homes, volunteer efforts to remove the ice and several annual visits by city crews to break up and scrape away the ice.

PREVIOUS STORY (DECEMBER 17)

A city official explained Thursday how a repair crew will address a constant trickle of water that causes significant ice accumulation in cold weather on the northeast side of the 8th Street hill.

Jack Ladley, of the Public Works Department, said workers will install a pipe, 10 inches wide, under the street and connect it to a concrete box on the opposite sidewalk.

"That side gets a lot more sunlight and warmth than the side where ice accumulates," he said. "When water fills that box, it will drain out down the gutter and into Bear Creek. Freezing will be much less of an issue and there is just open space on that side. No driveways, businesses or homes to be affected."

Ladley said the city has hired a contractor to bore the pipe.

"We don't do that kind of work," he said. "And because of the pandemic, the contractor doesn't have the pipe that's needed. We're hoping it will be here soon, and we'll finish this project by early next week. Doing this kind of work on cold weather isn't ideal. But once we're done, it will immediately solve the ice problem."

Ladley confirmed that the trickle of water comes from an underground spring, not from a sewer, as one area resident said she was told by the city.

"When this part of the hill was developed years ago, someone installed a French drain to handle the spring water," he said. "But it wasn't properly completed, and the ice has gotten worse over time. Most of the springs in town are only active if we've had a lot of rain but this one has been steady for quite a while."

There are dozens of springs across the city, some of which can damage infrastructure if not promptly addressed, Ladley said.

"In 2017, we created a team dedicated solely to responding to this kind of issue," he said. "It took us a while to get to this one. There's another on the west end of Fillmore Street that needs attention soon. Springs can affect residential streets as well as major streets."

Ladley said the ice problem on 8th Street would have gotten progressively worse and caused more expensive damage if allowed to remain much longer.

"This is called Colorado Springs for a reason," he said.

Employees at two nearby restaurants said they're glad to see repairs coming because customers complained about getting up and down steep driveways with so much ice at the bottom.

WEDNESDAY'S STORY (DECEMBER 16)

After years of complaints about winter accumulations of ice on the 8th Street hill on the city's southwest side, a public works crew started a repair project Tuesday.

KRDO NewsChannel 13 has previously reported on a steady flow of water, believed to be from an underground spring, that drains several blocks down the northeast side of the hill, near the Motor City area.

The water flows between Olympic Village Drive and Motor City Drive, and results in a thick buildup of ice along the curb and on driveways to several businesses -- causing a safety hazard for traffic, pedestrians and bicycle riders.

There is a drain at the bottom of the hill at Motor City Drive but most the flowing water freezes before it reaches the drain.

City workers occasionally bring in heavy equipment to break up, scoop up and remove the ice. Earlier this month, however, two affected business owners used shovels to crack the ice themselves.

"We're tired of this," said one of the business owners. "We've asked the city for years to do something about it, and nothing has been done. Isn't this what we pay taxes for?"

A crew has diverted traffic away from the lane where the water is flowing, and is using heavy equipment to dig into the spot. Several workers were using buckets to gather accumulated water and pour it downhill.

"We're trying to figure out exactly where the water is coming from and what to do about it," a worker at the scene said.

Joni Jones, works nearby at Coleson Foods, Inc., and, said she began talking to city officials about the problem two years ago.

"I kept calling and asking until I finally got the right person," she said. "They haven't specifically told me the (water is from an) underground spring. They did say sewer, which is not the same. They said it's not stormwater, it's sewer water. It's about time they came out here. We were concerned about the safety of our employees."