Project on Interstate 25 in central Colorado Springs reaches approximate halfway point

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — Drivers may feel that the safety/improvement project on I-25 between Fillmore Street and Garden of the Gods Road has been going on forever.

The $68 millionColorado Department of Transportation (CDOT ) project started in October 2023 — 18 months ago — and is scheduled for completion in mid- to late-2026.

Crews are upgrading one of the city's narrowest and bumpiest traffic corridors; the final step of repaving the nearly two-mile segment won't occur until near the end of the project, after construction is finished.

To date, workers have focused primarily on replacing the twin overpasses at Ellston Street; CDOT said that it is 75% through with the southbound bridge and more noticeable changes will happen this spring and summer.

Yun Han, CDOT's engineer for the project, said that all six lanes of I-25 will shift to the southbound side once that bridge is done, so that workers can move to the northbound bridge replacement.

"That's why you see all of the concrete barriers along the median," he explained. "It may get worse before it gets better. So, just be patient. Drive at the (55 mph) speed limit."

To accommodate the extra traffic, crews have closed the southbound shoulder, cut into part of an adjacent hill under a sound wall and added temporary lanes; temporary street lights also have been installed.

Meanwhile, workers will begin creating an acceleration/deceleration lane on each side of the freeway, to make merging into and out of I-25 traffic easier and reduce the bottleneck that often develops on both sides of the project area.

Han said that a wall will replace the old median in the final configuration.

Crews are making significant improvements to the drainage infrastructure, as well — and Han said that has been the project's biggest challenge.

"We had to actually relocate a storm sewer line," he said. "Because Ellston Street has a lot of pedestrians walking underneath, and the Sinton Trail that people have to utilize, to go to work and for recreational uses."

Han noted that drainage for the area was first designed during CDOT's COSMIX project 15 years ago, that widened the interstate north and south of the current project.

"Things have changed," he said. "The regulations change, so we have to capture all the water's that coming down from the west, put it in a storm sewer and put it into one big box culvert towards the south side of the project. All of that goes into Monument Creek."

CDOT eventually plans to make improvements to the nearby I-25 overpass at Harden of the Gods Road.