Colorado Springs is moving ahead with a pair of infrastructure improvements along 31st Street while the state transportation department separately wraps up safety work at a crash-prone interchange on the city's north side. The city scheduled a public open house on September 15 at Holmes Middle School, running from 5:30 to 7:30 in the evening.
The 31st Street work involves two distinct phases. The first calls for replacing a 66-year-old bridge that carries the road over Camp Creek at Water Street, which city officials say has outlived its functional lifespan. Once rebuilt, the structure is expected to handle a greater volume of water flowing beneath it, and the project forms part of a decade-long effort to upgrade infrastructure along the Camp Creek corridor. The bridge work is scheduled to begin this fall.
The second phase targets the 31st Street and Fontanero Street intersection, where the city plans to replace the existing four-way stop with a roundabout and will also address the bridge and drainage channel at that location. City officials described the roundabout design as both safer and more compact than what is currently in place. The change is also intended to reduce the likelihood of collisions at the intersection. Construction on the Fontanero roundabout is not scheduled to begin until spring 2027.
These upcoming phases follow work already delivered on the corridor: a pedestrian crossing over Camp Creek was completed in July, featuring a new six-foot-wide, ADA-accessible span equipped with ramps. City officials said the public is encouraged to attend the open house, submit questions, and comment on the next stages of the project.
Separately, the Colorado Department of Transportation recently finished safety upgrades at a different trouble spot in the northern part of the city, on southbound Highway 83 just north of where it becomes Interquest Parkway and meets the northern terminus of Powers Boulevard. The city's deputy public works director noted that the site had seen several major crashes in recent months involving drivers on southbound Highway 83 attempting to turn onto southbound Powers.
To address the problem, CDOT added a second left-turn lane and a second left-turn signal for southbound Highway 83 traffic; when those signals are green, northbound Highway 83 vehicles are stopped to create a protected turning movement onto Powers. Previously, the turn operated on a permissive basis, meaning drivers could proceed whenever the path appeared clear; the location now offers two dedicated lanes and a protected signal phase.
The city has a broader stake in that interchange, as it is coordinating with CDOT on a future redesign of the junction tied to the ongoing effort to extend Powers Boulevard northward to Interstate 25. That extension project is expected to continue through 2030 at a total estimated cost of $140 million.
How the recently completed CDOT safety improvements will be incorporated into the longer-range interchange redesign plan has not yet been detailed by city or state officials.