Crews place first girders on 1 of 4 bridges in the Powers Boulevard extension project in Colorado Springs

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- City officials marked a major milestone on Tuesday in the effort to extend Powers Boulevard from the Highway 83/Interquest Parkway interchange, to Interstate 25.

Crews ended a six-day task of placing 24 50-ton girders atop pillars that will form the deck of the new bridge at Flying Horse Club Drive.

Workers arrived at 4 a.m. to continue construction in the Flying Horse neighborhood at the north end of the city.

The bridge is one of three currently under construction: Slightly north is a pedestrian bridge to the golf course; to the south is a bridge at Ridgeline Drive.

Next week, crews begin placing girders for the Ridgeline Bridge.

Gayle Sturdivant, the city's deputy public works director, elaborated on the pedestrian bridge.

"What you see today is just a temporary bypass, so pedestrians and golfers can use it," she said. "What we're going to be doing is coming in and putting a pre-cast pedestrian bridge in, just to the south of where that temporary crossing is today."

A fourth bridge, still in the design phase, will be a high-rise bridge over Black Squirrel Creek.

Eventually, traffic will pass over that bridge and under the three others;officials hope to start construction on the new Powers roadway next year.

The city hopes to finish the entire project in 2030.

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