Wet weekend dampens progress slightly on South Nevada/South Tejon project in Colorado Springs
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The area received some much-needed moisture over the weekend, which is good for the environment but not so good for crews trying to finish a traffic and safety improvement project south of downtown.
Crews had planned to move concrete barriers from the work zone between Interstate 25 and Brookside Street, on three blocks of Nevada Avenue and two blocks of Tejon Street, and the northbound and southbound connector roads.
The weekend work was to close northbound Nevada and the southbound connector road.
Work was supposed to start at 9 p.m. Friday and end at 5 a.m. on Saturday, but rain Friday evening led officials to reschedule it to overnight Sunday.
However, a thunderstorm moved through the area Sunday night -- and although some workers were out moving traffic cones after the storm passed, it's unclear if they moved concrete barriers as intended.
It's the latest step in a project that started in mid-May to improve traffic flow for drivers going to, from and around I-25, and to make safety upgrades for pedestrians and bicycle riders.
The area receives receives a considerable amount of pedestrian and bicycle traffic, mostly from nearby homeless camps along Fountain Creek and the Springs Rescue Mission a few blocks away.
Motor Way and Arvada Street also are impacted by the project.
Crews are installing wider sidewalks, building a new center median on Nevada and easing left turns from northbound Nevada to northbound I-25; a new traffic signal will be placed at the Nevada/Brookside intersection.
The project is scheduled for completion by the end of the year; it's funded by $9.1 million in sales tax revenue from the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority.
An even larger project affecting the south end of Nevada starts next spring, when the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) begins a much-needed repaving of the avenue from east of the Brookside intersection to where it becomes Highway 115, all the way past the South Academy Boulevard interchange to Fort Carson's main gate.
