DRIVER ALERT: Part of South Academy Boulevard in Colorado Springs to close for weekend

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The latest phase in the ongoing series of upgrades on South Academy Boulevard will close a half-mile from Friday evening until midday Monday.

The closure begins at 7 p.m. between Astrozon Boulevard and Hancock Expressway, and is scheduled to end at noon Monday.

An hour later, the west side of the South Academy/Astrozon intersection will close for approximately three weeks.

The closures are necessary because crews are installing a water line, and will finish paving and striping.

Businesses and a shopping center front the segment of South Academy to be closed this weekend, but access to the businesses remains open; for more information, visit: https://coloradosprings.gov/AcademyBlvdImprovements.

Much of the utility work has closed the east side of South Academy, squeezing northbound and southbound traffic onto the west side and decreasing lanes from six to four.

The overall improvements project will ultimately stretch from Fountain Boulevard to Jet Wing Drive, just north of Milton E. Proby Parkway; construction began on the south end and has advanced north to El Morro Road.

For many drivers and pedestrians, the project has been inconvenient -- coping with occasional lane closures, changes on walking paths and at city bus stops, and significant construction activity.

The project is also an adjustment for adjacent businesses, but the frequent closures are by design because the city wants to avoid the negative impacts experienced during the earlier South Academy project between Bijou Street and Airport Road.

In that project, the city learned that doing the South Academy work in smaller segments would be less impactful than doing it in larger segments with closures lasting weeks or months.

According to the city, the overall project marks the first rebuilding of South Academy since 1969 and is expected to cost more than $100 million.

It's the boulevard's first major reconstruction since 1969; it will relocate existing utility lines, install new utility lines, improve intersections, build new curbs, gutters, ramps, and sidewalks, and repave the boulevard.

Workers started the Bijou to Airport phase in early 2023 and finished in late 2024.

Preliminary work on the second phase began during that time but didn't ramp up until earlier this year, after officials took a break to meet with neighbors about how to avoid the earlier negative impacts.

The project originally was to end this year, but delays due to groundwater infiltration and the break to connect with nearby residents mean it won't be completed until 2028.

When the city finally does finish the project, most of the south end of the boulevard from Bijou to Interstate 25 will have been upgraded by either the city or El Paso County.

Many citizens hope that completing the project will lead to an economic revitalization along the corridor, which has many vacant storefronts.