Merv Bennett and his wife love cycling the Midland Trail – until they reach the gap that requires crossing West Colorado Avenue. They don’t feel safe breaching that divide, and they sure won’t bring the grandkids.

So Bennett, president of the Colorado Springs City Council, eagerly anticipates that day within the next year when the gap evaporates thanks to the Westside Avenue Action Plan project.

“It’s a very nice trail,” he said. “When that portion’s completed, you can safely go from Manitou (Springs) all the way to America the Beautiful Park” in downtown Colorado Springs.

That’s because the trail will traverse beneath a new Adams Crossing Bridge at Columbia Road, well west of Ridge Road, where the pathway now stops.

“There will be tremendous safety improvements with this underpass,” said David Deitemeyer, park planner with Colorado Springs Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services.

Money to upgrade the trail, which starts in Manitou Springs, comes from the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority, which collects 0.55 of one cent in sales tax for capital projects. Manitou Springs authorities plan to eventually extend the trail all the way to Rainbow Falls west of town.

The goal for Colorado Springs is to ultimately create a link along Fountain Creek by routing the trail under 21st Street to follow the creek, then under U.S. 24 to Eighth Street and continuing below the new intersection being completed at Interstate 25 and U.S. 24, Deitemeyer said.

For now, though, the new trail will cut under Adams Crossing to U.S. 24 and jog a bit before jutting up 25th Street to West Cucharras Street and continuing along the sidewalk for four blocks to 21st Street, a map shows.

“I’m super-excited,” said Torie Giffin, owner of the historic Buffalo Lodge Bicycle Resort at 2 El Paso Blvd., right between Manitou and Colorado Springs. “Most people who come to our hotel are amateur and recreational cyclists. Having a designated trail system to connect them with all our tourist areas is going to be huge. It’s going to be fantastic for our guests to have one central trail that’s safe and unencumbered. The fewer crossings, the safer it is for kids and families.”