The City of Colorado Springs is developing the final design for improvements to the 30th Street corridor between Fontanero Street and Mesa Road. The Project will improve safety and mobility for travelers, bicyclists, and pedestrians; improve water quality; stabilize hillside slopes; and create an effective emergency evacuation corridor for northwest Colorado Springs. This grant funded project was awarded to improve corridor emergency response needs, which were recognized during evacuation from the Waldo Canyon Fire. The project will also improve: safety of bicyclists riding in mixed traffic on 30th Street; Garden of the Gods Park entrance congestion, and untreated roadway runoff that flows into the Park and adjacent neighborhoods.
The addition of 7-ft shoulders (includes 2-ft gutter pan) to 30th Street between Fontanero Street and Mesa Road will widen the road from 24 feet to 37 feet, creating space for emergency vehicles and evacuation, and providing a safe space for bicyclists to ride. The new roundabout at Gateway Road will reduce congestion and improve safety for corridor travelers and Park visitors, and create a “sense of arrival” for the Park entrance. In addition, there will be a new pedestrian underpass for Foothills Trail at Gateway Road. Stormwater improvements will include roadside curbs and gutters to capture runoff, and water quality treatment.
These Corridor improvements have been developed over a three-year period (2017 – 2020), with continuous community and agency involvement in exploring alternatives, developing design concepts, and evaluating environmental impacts. The City received environmental clearances for the Project from Colorado Department of Transportation and Federal Highways Administration in Fall 2019.
Construction of this Project is anticipated to begin in Fall 2020, and is expected to last for 18-24 months. The City is also planning for future 30th Street corridor improvements from Mesa Road to Garden of the Gods Road as a second phase, as funding becomes available.
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Park Entrance Sign – A New Photo Experience
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Along with the 30th Street & Gateway Road improvements, the Garden of the Gods Park entrance sign will be moved to a more compatible site along Foothills Trail, about 250 feet north of its current location. The new sign location is at a junction with the Foothills Trail, Gateway Trail, and the 30th Street pedestrian underpass access from the Visitor Center.
The site offers more space for visitors to move around, congregate, and take photos of uninterrupted views of the spectacular Park and mountain scenery
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Park visitors will have direct pedestrian access to the new sign location along Foothills Trail, with grade-separated connections crossing under 30th Street to the Visitor Center, and under Gateway road to the shuttle parking lot and Rock Ledge Ranch. Relocating the Park sign away from Gateway Road will improve vehicular traffic and pedestrian safety. With the new Foothills trail underpass, pedestrians will be able to walk from the shuttle parking lot near Rock Ledge Ranch without having to cross Gateway Road.
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Fall 2020 Public Meeting
The project team will schedule a public meeting this fall once a contractor has been selected. During the meeting, the contractor will communicate the project phasing, expected impacts and anticipated completion date.
STAY TUNED FOR MORE INFORMATION.
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Three Key Water Quality Facilities for the
30th Street Corridor
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There will also be water quality improvements along the 30th Street Corridor, including two water quality ponds, and an underground water quality storm trap, described below:
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Pond A
will be located within a corner of the Park, near Foothills Trail and Chambers Way. This 2-acre pond will collect and treat runoff from 30th Street between Mesa and Chambers Road. Runoff will be captured by the new 30th Street curb and gutter system, and directed through a stormwater pipe into Pond A. Treated stormwater will be released from Pond A via an underground pipe into the recently channelized segment of Camp Creek, just north of Chambers Way and 31st Street. The 20 Ponderosa Pine trees and two Pinyon Pines growing in the pond site area will be transplanted to a location north, along Foothills trail. Native shrubs and grasses will be planted around the perimeter of the Pond, within naturalized grading to blend in with the surrounding meadow setting and Rock Ledge Ranch. Landscape planting plans and tree transplanting methods have been coordinated with the Park Recreation and Cultural Services management team and the City Forestry Department.
Pond B
will be located along the southern edge of Water Street, between 30th and 31st Streets, and adjacent to Howbert Elementary School grounds. This pond will be smaller than Pond A and treat 30th Street runoff from Chambers Way to Water Street. Treated stormwater will be released into Camp Creek within the median of 31st Street.
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Pond C:
will be an underground water quality stormtrap approximately 200 feet long constructed under 30th Street near the intersection of W. Fontanero Street. This underground pond will capture water between Water Street to Fontanero Street. The underground stormwater detention system will manage and control the volume and discharge timing of stormwater runoff. This solution temporarily stores runoff in a large underground chamber before releasing it at a controlled rate. This helps to mitigate many of the harmful effects of high volumes of stormwater runoff, such as erosion and flooding.
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Camp Creek Drainage Improvement Project
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The Camp Creek Drainage Improvement Project is not part of the 30th Street Corridor Improvements Project, but due to its proximity, communication between the two project teams occurs. The Camp Creek Drainage Improvement Project is located on the northeast side of Garden of the Gods Park, at the entrance of Queens Canyon near The Navigators/Glen Eyre Castle.
The Waldo Canyon fire in 2012 burned a large percentage of the Camp Creek watershed resulting in larger and more frequent water flows into the creek, leading to increased erosion. Runoff from significant rainstorms in 2015 caused further, serious erosion along the creek. In Fall 2013 the City of Colorado Springs launched the Camp Creek Drainage Improvement Project. This multi-phase project includes naturalistic channel stabilization, stormwater detention to reduce flood flows, containment of sediment and debris impacting the area and the eventual reconstruction of drainage infrastructure along the 31st Street corridor to include a more naturalistic channel with capacity to convey runoff from a potential 100-year flood event.
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Garden of the Gods Flood Mitigation Facility (Detention Pond)
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In June 2019 work began on the 18-acre stormwater detention and sediment collection facility in the far northeastern portion of Garden of the Gods Park. Substantial completion is anticipated this month, including the planting of native grass seed.
To reduce flooding, the stormwater mitigation facility will temporarily store a portion of Camp Creek high flow water before releasing it downstream at a lower flow rate over a period of time. High flow events from burn scars carry large volumes of sediment. The facility includes an area to capture sediment, improving water quality before the water is released into the channel that runs through the park, Rock Ledge Ranch and the 31st Street Corridor.
Upon completion of the detention facility, about 110 properties along the 31st Street Corridor are expected to be removed from the FEMA regulatory floodplain through a map revision process. Owners of properties removed from the FEMA floodplain will have an option to carry flood insurance at a reduced rate, but will no longer be required by the federal government to carry flood insurance.
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Camp Creek Channel Stabilization
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This element of the Camp Creek project includes constructing naturalistic channel stabilization structures, shaping banks, and planting vegetation along portions of Camp Creek through Garden of the Gods Park and Rock Ledge Ranch. This stabilization reduced the potential for erosion along the creek as well as the potential for buildup of sediment downstream. This work is 95 percent complete and includes extending the existing culvert, relocating the maintenance trail, installing a new pedestrian/maintenance bridge, seven boulder rock vane drops, some slope stabilization, and concrete/grading work. The only item that remain to be completed is to install the pedestrian bridge handrail in April. Once that is done the project will be complete.
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30th Street Corridor Project Schedule
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- Final Design: completed Spring 2020
- Project Advertised to contractors: July 2020
- Contractor Selection: August 2020
- Public Meeting: once the contractor has been selected
- Construction Begins: Sept./Oct. 2020
- Anticipated Construction Phasing:
- Water Quality Pond 1 (Chambers)
- Gateway Road Bypass
- Gateway Road Roundabout
- 30th Street: Mesa Road to Gateway Road
- 30th Street: Gateway Road to Fontanero Street
- Construction Completion: 2022 (Estimated time to construct: 18-24 months) Weather and unknown items always have the potential to delay any construction project.
Funding
Design is funded with City of Colorado Springs Public Works Capital Dollars. Surface Transportation Metro Funds will provide construction funding.
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Tour the 30th Street Corridor via Drone
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Explore 30th Street Corridor via drone technology.
Courtesy of Ascent Geomatic Solutions.
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Frequently Asked Questions
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Q. What will 30th Street look like after this project is complete?
A: This project will increase the width of the road from 24 to 37 feet. The new design will allow for two 11 foot travel lanes, a 5 foot multi-use shoulder on each side, and a 2.5 foot curb and gutter on each side. The new cross section will expand to the east and was developed due to existing topography on the east (steep slopes with slope instability) and to reduce impact to existing neighborhoods on the west side of the corridor.
Q. Will the project add bike lanes or sidewalks?
A. No, the multi-use shoulders may be used by bicyclists and for vehicular emergency pull off, but the added shoulder will not be striped as a designated bike lane. Existing topography (steep slopes with slope instability) will increase the cost of a typical sidewalk installation. The current project budget will not allow for construction of sidewalks at this time.
Q. What will the effects on the Foothills trail be?
A. The existing foothills trail will need to be closed for (an estimated) 3 months while the contractor installs the new storm sewer and Detention pond (Pond 1) by Chambers Way. We plan to divert cyclists only (no pedestrians) to the road in front of Rock Ledge Ranch, and then have them connect to Chambers Way. This will be subject to change if safety becomes an issue. There will be a closure of the trail at Gateway Road during installation of the pedestrian underpass. That closure is estimated to be about 4 weeks, and will be weather dependent. Cyclists can be diverted to the existing pedestrian crossing that exists now, but will be subject to change if safety becomes an issue.
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Sign up
to receive future project information and notices of the public meetings, send an email to
Carolyn@bachmanpr.com
requesting to be added to the project database.
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