Business at west end of Bradley Road in El Paso County expresses concern about construction impacts
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- The owner of the High Country Veterinary Hospital, just south of the Colorado Springs city limits, believes that the nearby South Academy Boulevard widening project is among several issues negatively affecting her business.
Dr. Kelsey Moses owns and operates the business that she acquired in 2018; she said that it has been in the community for 30 years and suffers from being on a dead-end, unpaved road that has recurring problems with trash accumulations, potholes and poor drainage that floods the area and the interior of the hospital.
"We call it Lake Bradley, and I can't tell you how many clients I'm sure that we've lost, just because they don't want to come down Bradley Road to get to us," she said. "My staff replaces the suspensions to their vehicles. I buy new tires for them because they get flats every day coming to work."
Moses said that the trash comes from a nearby waste management business, and that the flooding is caused by a clogged drainage pipe that she regularly has to clean out herself because no one else does it.
"It takes us a couple of hours to do it and we also have to do trash pickup patrols ourself to keep our property clean," she said.
Another concern Moses has, she explained, is construction vehicles and debris from the South Academy project occasionally blocking entry and exit for clients and her staff, without warning.
"We've tried to contact officials but we haven't gotten a response," she said. "No one really seems to care that we're here."
Brett Harzell, project manager for El Paso County's section of the South Academy improvements, says that he was unaware of the situation.
"You mentioned maybe construction vehicles blocking signage," he began. "That's something we can take a look at. There's a lot of construction vehicles in this project, so it's possible that happens. I know there's some existing issues with that. It's a road that's kind of half county-maintained and half C-DOT (Colorado Department of Transportation)-maintained. I know there are some pre-existing flooding and maintenance issues on that road. So, that's something I can talk with the property owner about."
However, Hartzell said that because the issues don't appear to be directly connected with the construction project, he's unclear what the solution is.
Moses -- and several viewers who contacted The Road Warrior -- agree that the best way to resolve the problems is to extend Bradley Road a few hundred feet west, to Highway 85/87 through Fountain and Security-Widefield.
"That would create an east-west corridor that this area really needs," Moses said.
But that appears unlikely, because of Burlington Northern/Santa Fe railroad tracks between the highway and the dead-end.
"You'd have to either go over it or have a crossing," he said. "That's usually a difficult obstacle to overcome. Not impossible but it would definitely add complexities and time."
Moses isn't sure if she should just wait out the construction, or move somewhere else.
"I'm at a standstill because I don't know what's going to happen around me," she said. "I'm one of the only clinics in town that has land. I have four acres that I could easily develop on. But I don't know if I want to invest in it."
