Guardrail repairs completed after midday lane closure Monday on southbound I-25 near Colorado Springs
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - UPDATE: Repairs were completed at 3 p.m. Monday; at times, traffic backed up to the Circle Drive/Lake Avenue interchange.
After June was marked by lane closures and even full closures of Interstate 25 through the Fountain area, July begins with another lane closure that started late Monday morning.
The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) closed the right southbound lane, just south of South Academy Boulevard, at around 10 a.m.
Traffic quickly backed up past the South Academy interchange.
According to a release issued Friday, CDOT said that the closure would last from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. through Wednesday, then resume next Monday after the Independence Day holiday weekend.
However, Randy Johnson, a CDOT project engineer, said that the original schedule was flexible to allow a specialized guardrail contractor to oversee repairs.
"There are only a few of those contractors in the state," he said. "We just wanted to make sure we could have one here. Our plan is to finish repairs by the end of the day."
The closure is allowing crews to repair and replace three sections of damaged guardrails between Mile Points 133 and 134.
"We had a box truck that impacted the guardrail probably about three or four weeks ago," Johnson said. "(It) took out a metal beam. So, as an immediate fix, we put up a Type 7 concrete barrier."
Because there is only a very narrow shoulder in that area, it's safer for CDOT to close the right lane and do the work during the day, to protect the workers.
The guardrails protect vehicles from crashing into a nearby creek.
For many drivers, it seems as though the projects on that stretch of I-25 will never end; however, CDOT spokesperson Amber Shipley insists that it is winding down.
"They're working on all of those final little details," she explained. "Just trying to make all the transitions smooth. And you know, when they had the difficulty with the (paving) equipment last month, of course that delayed us. We don't like to shut down the highway without proper notification of our traveling public because it's such a busy corridor."
Johnson elaborated on the delays, saying that a milling machine used to remove old asphalt broke down one night, and two test strips of paving failed and had to be replaced.
CDOT plans to hold a ribbon cutting ceremony -- possibly by Labor Day weekend -- to officially end the two-year, $161 million Military Access, Mobility & Safety Improvement Project (MAMSIP), designed to increase traffic safety and access around local military installations such as Fort Carson and Schriever Space Force Base.
Crews finished remaining asphalt repaving last month; yet to be completed are removing concrete barriers, cleaning up debris that accumulated under them and finishing the installation of wire guardrails and a concrete wall in the center median.
"The southbound side was our biggest challenge because there are fewer shoulders for drivers to pull over," Johnson said. "We did install some emergency pull-over lanes and we'll be creating some southbound shoulder space. As for the concrete wallm that's necessary because the elevation is higher at that end of the project and guardrails didn't work as well."
