COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Work is starting to ease congestion along one of the common trouble spots on Interstate 25 though Colorado Springs.
The two years of work between the Garden of the Gods Road and Fillmore Sreet interchanges is scheduled to start by October 30.
“Have it be much more natural to be able to come on and off the highway,” Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) Program Engineer John Hall said.
Less stop and more go is the goal.
The road will not be widened. Instead, this a redesign and rework with improvements.
The northbound on-ramp on Fillmore ends not far up the road. It is similar with the southbound on-ramp from Garden of the Gods.
The ending lanes mean drivers trying to get into regular lanes have to find space to merge very quickly.
“Those are exactly the things that contribute to the peak hour congestion we see there,” Hall said.
When space to merge gets tight there is often a domino effect of slowing.
The new plan makes the merge lane in both directions continuous from interchange to interchange.
“We're really excited once it gets done two years from now, you know, to have those longer auxiliary lanes continuous and really provide people a lot of room to merge on and off," Hall said.
Abridge will be replaced and driving surfaces improved.
The timeline takes into account a slower pace for construction that will be necessary because of a decision to maintain three lanes for traffic throughout the project.
