The Manitou Incline might not close this summer as anticipated.

The process to finalize federal funding to cover the cost of planned construction is ongoing, said Sarah Bryarly, the project organizer with Colorado Springs Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services. She said paperwork still was cycling through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which administers the Community Development Block Grant program.

At a Dec. 2 ceremony to reopen the mile-long, mountain-side stairstepper after 3-1/2 months of repairs, the city announced it was selected to receive $2 million through that program doling out dollars for disaster relief.

The expectation was to again close the popular trail for that duration, beginning Aug. 19 for the Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon weekend.

“Right now, that’s our hope and our goal,” Bryarly said earlier this week. “However, there’s a lot of work that has to be done. If paperwork can’t be completed, we’ll have to kick it back to next year. … I’m not 100 percent confident it’ll be completed.”

The Incline’s previous two construction phases relied on grants with less complexity, Bryarly said. Also unique to the process this time, she said, is the U.S. Forest Service’s involvement. The agency must complete an environmental assessment for this phase, which will center on the Incline’s top portion. Workers in 2014 and 2016 built erosion-mitigating structures and replaced contorted steps on land that was the city’s and Pikes Peak Cog Railway’s, not the Forest Service’s.

Pikes Peak District Ranger Oscar Martinez said his staff also must consult with the Colorado Historic Preservation Office. That consultation has yet to happen, he said.

Asked how long the process could take, Martinez said: “I hazard to even put a guess on that. This district has so many other projects ahead of that one.”

The city has yet to bid the project, pending clearance. Bryarly wouldn’t say when a contractor would have to be secured to meet the deadline of work, only that the job expected to last through November would be at risk if it had to stretch into December, due to weather.

The construction would complete a roughly $5 million effort to stabilize the long-beloved trail – as planned by the city when it took ownership of the former railway and officially opened it to hikers four years ago. The city could fund smaller-scale projects with fees collected from Incline users; a “pay-to-play” model also was in that site management plan. But talks to implement the model have awaited repairs, Bryarly said.

“Hopefully,” she said of phase three, “this is the last time in our lifetimes we have to do something like this.”

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Contact Seth Boster: 636-0332

Twitter: @SethBoster­­