After five years of lane shifts, bridge work and construction-zone headaches, a $161 million transportation project serving Colorado Springs, Fountain and the surrounding military corridor has reached completion.
The Colorado Department of Transportation and its regional partners announced Tuesday that the Military Access, Mobility & Safety Improvement Project is finished, with the final South Academy Boulevard work closing out the long-running effort. CDOT Executive Director Shoshana Lew said the upgrades will provide “safer and more predictable access” to the region’s military installations, according to CDOT’s announcement.
What The Five-Year Project Changed
The project improved four strategic corridors: Interstate 25, Colorado Highway 94, South Academy Boulevard and Charter Oak Ranch Road. According to the Colorado Department of Transportation, the I-25 portion covered about 7.5 miles between South Academy Boulevard and the Santa Fe Avenue exit in Fountain, near Fort Carson’s Gate 19.
That I-25 work included replacing two aging bridges, widening shoulders, adding a full-length median barrier, placing a concrete surface overlay and maintaining four additional bridges. Crews also lengthened a southbound deceleration lane at the CO 16 interchange, giving drivers a little more room to make decisions before the highway starts making them for them.
The South Academy component widened roughly 1.5 miles of roadway from two lanes to three in each direction, while also adding bridge improvements, drainage infrastructure, lighting, sound walls and expanded shoulders. The El Paso County Public Works project listing identifies the work as a partnership with CDOT, SEMA Construction and regional transportation agencies.
A Road Network Built Around Military Access
The improvements are intended to strengthen connections among Fort Carson, Peterson Space Force Base, Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station and Schriever Space Force Base. CDOT has said the four-corridor program is also designed to reduce crash risks and improve mobility for civilian traffic, freight and the thousands of military and civilian personnel who use the routes each day.
The project was funded by CDOT, El Paso County, the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority and an $18.35 million federal BUILD grant. A U.S. Department of Transportation fact sheet described the effort as a safety and connectivity investment around Colorado Springs’ nationally significant military installations.
Construction broke ground at Fountain Creek Park on June 2, 2021. With the final South Academy work now complete, the project moves out of the construction phase and into the less glamorous but crucial era of pavement maintenance, traffic monitoring, and finding out whether local drivers will still instinctively brake when they see an orange barrel.
