Lisa Powell drives Austin Bluffs Parkway on her way to work and she said she’s constantly frustrated by traffic congestion. But what Powell heard last week made her smile.

She attended a Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority open house where plans to widen Austin Bluffs Parkway at three key segments were unveiled.

“I like what I’m hearing,” Powell said. “Improvements are coming.”

Construction is expected to begin this summer and be completed by late 2014.

The three roadway segments to be widened are from Nevada Avenue to Union Boulevard, Union to Meadowland Boulevard, and Barnes Road to Old Farm Drive.

All segments will be widened from four to six lanes, and bicycle lanes will be added for the two segments that intersect Union Boulevard. The bridge over Unionoulevard was built with room for six lanes.

David Levine, who has lived across Austin Bluffs from the northern edge of Palmer Park — in the middle segment — for 16 years, welcomes the change.

“We’ve needed this for at least 10 years, certainly,” Levine said.

City engineer Mike Chaves said a concept study was done in 2003 to determine the best approach to improving the roadway. Wednesday’s gathering at Calvary United Methodist Church was the third open house for the project; others were in 2009 and 2010.

Residents and business owners along the corridor were mailed invitations to attend the open house and about 100 showed up for the informal session that allowed them to voice concerns, ask questions and gather information. Some business owners expressed concerns about proposed medians cutting off existing turn lanes into their properties.

Intricate maps of the planned improvements were on display. Representatives from Matrix Design Group, the company that put together the plans, answered questions and explained proposed improvements.

Matrix Design representatives said officials at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs are supportive of the project. The westernmost segment is adjacent to the UCCS campus.

Chaves said total cost of the project is about $30 million. It will be funded by PPRTA’s voter-approved one percent sales tax for road and bridge improvements.

Levine said he wants good roads and is willing to pay for it through the PPRTA tax.

“They’ve done good work,” said Levine, a financial advisor at Morgan Stanley. “I was very pleased with how the overpass (at Union and Austin Bluffs) turned out. It helped traffic flow and helped reduce the noise because people weren’t stopping and starting at that intersection as much.

“I think having six lanes will reduce accidents,” Levine said. “I hear sirens in our area all the time.”

Powell, who is a manager for El Paso County Public Health in the Citizens Service Center on West Garden of the Gods Road, lives near the Austin Bluffs segment that includes Old Farm Drive,

“Between 7 and 7:30 in the morning I spend a good 30 minutes or longer getting to work,” Powell said. “Traffic is particularly bad around the University. I’m hoping to decrease the amount of time I spend on the road.”

Since the Citizens Service Center opened, Powell said she lives closer to work but travel time increased because of the congestion on Austin Bluffs, which becomes Garden of the Gods Road at the Nevada intersection.

In attendance at the open house were representatives from Lawrence Construction, Wildcat Construction and Kiewit Western, the company that will begin widening I-25 from Woodmen Road to Monument next month.

“We’re in the advertising phase,” Chaves said of the Austin Bluffs project. “Bids are due in early March. It’s not the low bid that will win the job, but the best proposal overall.”

Chaves hopes to have the winning bid approved by the PPRTA board in May or June.

Dealing with traffic will be a major issue for the contractor, with the goal to minimize lane closures and do much of the work at night. Relocating utilities — water, sewer and electrical lines — is another prime concern.

Chaves said the timing of work on the three segments will be decided by the contractor. They could be done at the same time or one after the other. The segment alongside UCCS will likely be scheduled in summer of 2013 or 2014.

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