Justice Center Road is highlight of Cañon City’s paving list this year

CAÑON CITY, Colo. (KRDO) — With three current or recent road-related projects, 2025 has already been an active construction year for the Fremont County seat.

Residents can expect more work later this spring when street paving begins.

The biggest project is the half-mile stretch of Justice Center Road, between US 50 and Grandview Avenue, on the east side of town.

It could be the county's most important street because of what's along it.

"It's a pretty big commercial, government complex that's got the sheriff's office, all the courts, city police department, the DHS office is on it," said Leo Evans, the town's public works director. "We'll be doing that later this year. I hope to get that started in May and then wrap that up in July."

The street also connects to a shopping center with a movie theater and other business at the north end, and to two churches and an apartment complex at the south end.

Evans said that the street was last paved in 1998, and it shows every bit of its age — with crumbling and cracking pavement, numerous potholes and roadside erosion.

The paving project will include features the street has little of, such as sidewalks, curbs and gutters; the buildings will get new driveways and parking lots, as well.

"We'll also be looking to do a smaller, street resurfacing program around town, jumping around to five or six local streets in town and resurfacing those," Evans added.

The town's paving budget is $1.5 million this year.

"You could always spend more, but it'll be a good project," Evans said. "We'll get some good segments out of it, for sure."

Victoria Miner, a resident, is excited about the upcoming paving.

"This is going to be a huge benefit for a lot of companies around here," she said. "It's going to help a lot of the vehicles around here."