Tejon Street Revitalization Project to expand outdoor dining & improve safety & accessibility, city says

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - The City of Colorado Springs and Downtown Partnership officials have announced that the Tejon Street Revitalization Project is scheduled to begin on Monday, March 24.

The city said the stated goals of the project are to boost public safety, increase accessibility, and grow business activity. An open house event covering the project will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 25, from 4:30-6 p.m. at the City Administration Building in room 102.

According to the city, the project features the following improvements to the two-block segment of Tejon Street downtown:

• Wider sidewalk space for pedestrians, including those using wheelchairs and mobility scooters. Recent data from VisitCOS show that 30% of visitors to our region have at least one person in their group with mobility barriers.
• Expanded and uniformly sized outdoor dining space for restaurants.
• Removal of the center lane (currently used by delivery trucks), improving safety by relocating deliveries to new zones on side streets.
• Preservation of diagonal on-street parking once construction is complete.
• Designating short-term parking areas for food delivery and ride-hail vehicles.
• Planting larger trees and expanding landscape areas for increased aesthetics and to provide increased shade.
• Enhancing opportunities for extra pedestrian lighting, public art, and seating.

According to the city, the first phase of the project will be from Colorado Avenue to Pikes Peak Avenue and will start construction in late March 2025. The project then moves to the segment known as Block 2, from Pikes Peak Avenue to Kiowa Street, after the Fourth of July. The city said this segment is scheduled for completion by the end of September. Finally, crews will move to the “Historic Busy Corner” at the intersection of South Tejon Street and Pikes Peak Avenue. That portion of the project should start at the end of September and finish by early December. The project will also repave those two blocks of South Tejon Street, according to the city.

The city said the anticipated traffic impacts during construction include northbound Tejon Street closing from Colorado Avenue to Kiowa Avenue in phases during construction in March through December. Southbound Tejon Street will remain open in that same segment. Access to all businesses will also remain intact.

For more information on the project, visit ColoradoSprings.gov/tejonstreet.