West Colorado/Manitou Avenue was a 1.5-mile corridor previously forgotten in time. New infrastructure has changed that, resulting in improved roadways and storm sewer systems, underground utilities, sidewalks and more.
NO MANS' LAND
The corridor, located between 31st Street and US 24 with infrastructure dating to the 1800s-era Pikes Peak Gold Rush, connects the two historic districts of Old Colorado City and Manitou Springs crossing four jurisdictions: CDOT, El Paso County, City of Colorado Springs, and City of Manitou Springs. Years of deferred maintenance, lack of funding and weak interagency cooperation led to this area being known locally as the Westside Avenue Action Plan.
In 2012, El Paso County selected Felsburg Holt & Ullevig to lead the way to revitalization through public transportation investment with the goal of economic vitality through private investment. Following a nearly 7 year process, the five jurisdictions, along with the Pikes Peak Regional Transportation Authority, neighbors and other stakeholders collaborated to accomplish what no one individual entity could, resulting in a safe, compete streets roadway, with overhead utilities placed underground, an improved underground storm sewer system, 1000 feet of redesigned and reimagined Fountain Creek waterway including improved pedestrian and bicycle access and walkways and the reinstallation of the historic Adams Crossing Bridge safely crossing over a 100-year-floodplain.
This once-blighted area is now a thriving corridor and gateway into the historic community of Manitou Springs in close proximity to Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods. The improved infrastructure offers a safe, attractive and economically viable venue for private investment in collaboration with the Manitou Springs Urban Renewal Authority.