Two-year interchange project begins Monday at Powers Boulevard & Airport Road in Colorado Springs

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Nearly two years after building an overpass and interchange at the intersection of Powers Boulevard and Research Parkway, a similar project will start next week at the intersection of Powers and Airport Road.

The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) will spend $46 million on the project that officially begins Monday and is scheduled for completion by the end of 2026.

The new interchange will be slightly north of the current intersection and include a diverging diamond traffic configuration similar to that currently in place at Powers/Research, and at the Interstate 25/Fillmore Street interchange.

CDOT said that it expects "minor" traffic impacts in the area during the first year of construction.

The project is designed to ease traffic congestion in part of the busy Powers corridor near the main entrance to Peterson Space Force Base, and improve safety -- especially for pedestrians and cyclists.

CDOT also said that the project will realign Airport Road and improve the Airport Road/Stewart Avenue intersection near Peterson SFB.

Unlike many of CDOT's current construction projects in the region, the Powers/Airport construction will happen primarily during daylight hours between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.

Some local planners called for the project to start as recently as 2018; CDOT previously said that it would return to the original plan of having an overpass/interchange at every major Powers intersection.

The project will be the fifth overpass on Powers and the first south of Platte Avenue; the others are on the north end of Powers at Woodmen Road, Research, Briargate Parkway/Union Boulevard and Old Ranch Road.

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