Colorado Springs will spend nearly $400,000 per mile for a 2.8-mile stretch of trail in the south part of the city, most of it for concrete.The $1.1 million project will upgrade the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail between America the Beautiful Park and the El Pomar Youth Sports Park as part of the city’s push to widen and convert asphalt trails to concrete, which lasts longer.”Asphalt tends to deteriorate rather quickly and was put in just so the citizens would have something to use,” parks director Paul Butcher said.Of the city’s 95 miles of trail, 51 miles are concrete, 22 miles are asphalt that will be converted, and the rest will remain gravel, such as those in Red Rock Canyon and Garden of the Gods.Great Outdoors Colorado gave the city $662,270 for the project, which includes $92,100 for El Paso County to upgrade a 1,660-foot segment of the Fountain Creek Regional Trail in the county.The city will chip in $557,000, and the county’s share is $11,100.A preliminary estimate for the Greenway Trail, which runs from the Douglas County line to Fountain, shows the city plans to spend $173,250 for asphalt removal, $76,460 for grading and drainage improvements, $70,830 for a trail shoulder and $559,770 for concrete.The rest will pay for design, pruning along the trail corridor and permitting for such things as the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse and migratory birds.”We’re not making any extraordinary requirements other than we need a 12-foot trail, 6 inches thick to accommodate traffic if we need to get a vehicle down it,” Butcher said.He said the price of concrete is going up due to transportation costs tied to gasoline prices.”These are probably not the most accessible areas to get to,” he added. “They’re probably more costly than a standard sidewalk because of where you need to get and how you do the work.”The asphalt-removal costs, he said, stem from having to get the material out of a remote area and dispose of it as hazardous waste.”We seem to get good use of trails, and it’s increasing, especially with the rising price of gas,” Butcher said. “They are ideal for bike commuting. It’s an investment, and certainly folks like GoCo find it would be a good investment.”The Parks Department has proposed building another 132.6 miles of trails throughout the city.CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0238 or pam.zubeck@gazettedev.gazette.com

Charles Davis, outside his home with two of his four children, Brooke and Jacob. Davis has been named “Hardest Working Dad in America.” Photo by (KEVIN KRECK, THE GAZETTE)