COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — Many viewers have asked why work hasn’t continued this year on the project to improve two miles of South Academy Boulevard between Fountain Boulevard and Jet Wing Drive.
Preliminary construction began early last year and was initially delayed until this fall, but officials last week announced that work will continue on an unspecified date early next year.
The city also revealed that the project will not be completed until summer 2028 — two years later than originally scheduled.
Officials stated that they planned to hold an open house in September to inform and educate the community — comprising residents, merchants, and drivers — about the project’s impact.
The goal, they explained, is to avoid the significant impacts that accompanied the 2023-2024 northern phase of the Academy upgrades between Bijou Street and Airport Road.
Drivers often complained about traffic being frequently reduced to one lane in each direction, about temporary closures of Airport Road at the Academy intersection, and about construction discouraging customers from stopping at local businesses.
When the city’s longer Academy project resumes, officials said that they will try to minimize impacts by doing the work gradually, in four segments over the next two years, instead of in larger segments, as they did at the project’s northern end…