Manitou Springs’ busiest tourist bottleneck will be getting a facelift with ambitious deadlines starting later this year.

Improvements to Ruxton Avenue, a narrow canyon road that leads from the city’s downtown to attractions such as the Manitou & Pikes Peak Cog Railway and the Manitou Incline, have been a long-term goal of Manitou Springs.

At the same time, the corridor is also important to Colorado Springs Utilities, which maintains a key raw water line through the area that is over 90 years old.

The city and Utilities are hoping to coordinate their respective projects, starting in October. City Public Services Director Ben Schmitt told the City Council on Tuesday that the project was finally locked in on dates.

“We’re going full steam ahead,” he said.

The first stage will be Utilities’ turn, as it installs cathodic protection along its raw water line. The technique creates a low-voltage current along the metal pipe that prevents corrosion. Bill Bolch, a strategic accounts manager with Utilities, said the project would proceed with a full replacement closer to 2030.

Utilities crews will start work in October and plan to finish by the end of the year. The project will require drilling approximately 200 12-inch holes from the Manitou Hydroelectric Plant down to Manitou Avenue. Bolch said the goal would be to keep one lane open at all times.

“We don’t think it’s going to be that much of an impact,” he said.

Once Utilities is finished, the city has a narrow timeline to take advantage of matching grants to upgrade the Ruxton Corridor for vehicles and pedestrians. Schmitt said that the city needs to have its design done by February.

After debate over funding constraints, the city has gone with so-called “option F” for the project: new sidewalks, curbs, gutters and roadway resurfacing, but no undergrounding of the overhead power lines.

The full price tag is estimated at $6.33 million, about $3.6 of which will come from a Federal Highway Administration grant. Some funding will also come from Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority tax revenue.

Schmitt said the city should be prepared for an early-summer construction start in case the weather turns. The timeline would coincide with the city’s busiest season, however, prompting some concerns from the major tourist businesses that rely on Ruxton access.

“If we’re doing this project in the middle of their peak season, that’s going to have huge impacts,” said Schmitt.

City administrator Denise Howell said the project with “a lot of moving parts” would include frequent meetings with stakeholders.