EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — Our dry weather isn’t good for vegetation or the fire risk, but it has meant better progress on construction projects.
Two projects in particular started Monday of last week and should be completed by the end of Wednesday, according to Dan Gerhard, a county public works engineer.
Those projects couldn’t be more different.
Crews are repaving a quarter-mile of Industry Road — which is on the line dividing the county and the Colorado Springs city limits — between Marksheffel Road and Capital Drive.
Daytime traffic has been open only to local and business-related traffic, managed by flaggers at both ends.
It’s more than a routine repaving job, as crews are doing a complete rebuild by removing the underlying base and the old asphalt.
Crews have also waterproofed a bridge over a drainage channel.
Industry Road dates back to the 1990s and is aptly named for the industrial businesses lining both sides.
The second project is on 1.5 miles of Loy Creek Road, near the Teller County line, just outside Woodland Park.
Repaving is particularly challenging because it’s a steep, winding, narrow road at an elevation of nearly 9,000 feet.
The road connects at both ends to Rampart Range Road, which is even more mountainous — and full of potholes — than Loy Creek Road.
Meanwhile, just south of the Industry Road project, Colorado Springs crews are performing maintenance on a bridge across the same drainage channel, between Constitution Avenue and Capital Drive.
Workers are repairing and waterproofing the bridge deck there.
The schedule for that project was unavailable Tuesday, but drivers should be aware of lane closures and other traffic impacts.