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A map, provided by Wildcat Construction, shows the location (in orange) of the Ridge Road work this summer between Highway 24 and Colorado Avenue that will require its closure until mid-September. The map also displays possible detours.
Courtesy of Wildcat Construction

Roadwork to close Ridge between highway and avenue until mid-September

June 18, 2018
       Another key Westside traffic connection will be closed for a significant period of time to allow roadway improvements.
       Ridge Road between Highway 24 and Colorado Avenue is scheduled to be blocked off Wednesday, June 20 and stay that way for 90 days. It's the only link
A view from southbound Ridge Road at Highway 24 shows the temporary barricades that prevent drivers from continuing across the intersection or taking a left onto the highway. A project this summer will install permanent barricades.
Westside Pioneer photo
between those corridors west of 31st Street before the Manitou Springs highway interchange.
       Also closed this year has been 21st Street between the highway and the avenue (closed now till the end of June for water-line work), and that segment is due for another closure of up to two months later this summer. Also blocked off currently is 24th Street from Pikes Peak Avenue to Uintah Street.
       In addition, the ongoing Westside Avenue Action Plan (WAAP) project west of 31st Street has permanently shut off Ridge Road between Colorado and Pikes Peak avenues (for a WAAP-related plaza) and necessitated temporary closures on El Paso Boulevard, 36th Street, Columbia Road, Ridge north of Pikes Peak and on parts of the avenue itself.
       Handling the highway-to-avenue Ridge Road job is Wildcat Construction, in its role as the WAAP contractor. Wildcat head Zane Stultz said that a full closure will give his crews greater flexibility for digging into that eighth-of-a-mile segment to install utilities and storm drains and rebuild the road.
       He explained that the Ridge work is also tied in with a separate Wildcat contract this summer with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) for a project to install permanent barricades limiting access at Ridge and Highway 24.
       Like the temporary barricades that CDOT installed last year, the permanent versions will prevent Ridge drivers from crossing the highway and will require them to turn right.
       Stultz said that the barricade work will not close off highway lanes, but there may be some traffic impacts in the fall when barricades need to be built in the middle of the intersection.
       Wildcat also has the contract for another close-by Highway 24 project - to extend the road's eastbound left-turn lane at 31st Street. Stultz said that project will begin in late June. According to a previous Westside Pioneer interview with a CDOT spokesperson, most of the highway/31st Street work will occur at night, with the left-turn lane staying open in the daytime.

Westside Pioneer article
(Transportation: Major Roads)

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