Author: Bill Mckeown
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Fountain getting $137,000 to keep bus service running
Bus service to Fountain will continue through the rest of this year and possibly through next year, following a decision Wednesday by the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments board to give the cash-strapped city an infusion of money.Bus service to Fountain was in danger of being cut off Sept. 12 if the city doesn’t…
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City’s first porous lot
The city’s first porous concrete parking lot is being poured this week behind Colorado College’s new Cornerstone Arts Center. The technology, if more widely adopted, could have significant environmental benefits for a city that has been criticized by its neighbors over stormwater runoff into Fountain Creek and the Arkansas River.Unlike traditional parking lots, rain and…
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GETTING THERE: Engineers get creative for new road interchange
A remnant of the Old Denver Highway running east of the Air Force Academy and west of Interstate 25 doesn’t look like much.The decades-old asphalt, about 20 feet wide, is sun-baked and cracked, with weeds and native grasses taking root in its fissures.It looks exactly like what it is: a longabandoned two-lane road that decades…
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City investigating intersection where cyclists died
The city of Colorado Springs will explore whether any improvements are needed at an intersection on the west side where two bicyclists were struck and killed Wednesday evening, Colorado Springs’ principal traffic engineer said Friday.David Krauth said he visited the intersection of 26th Street and Westend Avenue, south of U.S. Highway 24, on Thursday. He…
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Living history: Bon Shopping Center celebrating 55 years
When the Bon Shopping Center opened in 1953 at the north end of Wahsatch Avenue, a story in The Gazette Telegraph marveled at the “ultra-modern” look of the city’s first strip mall.Today, much of that ’50s Buck Rogers modernism, save for the center’s sign, is gone, erased by remodeling.But the Bon is still thriving. Its…
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Despite backlog, state funds for repairs will fall in 2009
One year after the deadly collapse of the Interstate 35 bridge in Minneapolis, little has been done to repair or replace 1,400 structurally deficient or obsolete bridges in Colorado. In fact, say officials, despite a $1.4 billion backlog of such work and the recommendation of a blue-ribbon panel that spending be sharply increased, money for bridge…
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GETTING THERE: City plans to widen hill on Fillmore
Jeez. Those city road engineers. What a bunch of killjoys. Next summer, they plan to water down the spine-tingling thrill of navigating Fillmore Street west of Interstate 25, aka “Suicide Hill.” Engineers will put in a third lane up and down the improbably steep thoroughfare from just west of the interstate up to Centennial Boulevard.…
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City takes a step toward new transit center
The city of Colorado Springs on Tuesday took the first concrete step toward building a long-discussed transit center in the urban renewal area southwest of downtown, a facility officials expect will serve generations of commuters.Transit officials submitted an application for $12 million of state money through Senate Bill 1, which provides funds for transit projects…
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City road projects on hold over cost of asphalt
A crisis in the asphalt industry is having profound impacts on Colorado Springs road projects, officials said Monday.The paving of a portion of the Pikes Peak Highway, scheduled to begin this week, will be delayed until next summer because the city cannot get the special polymer-enhanced asphalt needed for high-altitude weather conditions, said Jack Glavan,…
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GETTING THERE: Chemical scarcity for asphalt gets sticky
Colorado highway engineers are scrambling to find ways to complete dozens of major road projects in Colorado, including two in this region, in the wake of a severe shortage of a chemical used to make asphalt more durable.The Colorado Department of Transportation has said almost three dozen projects statewide are threatened by the scarcity of…