CDOT touts benefits of overpass project at Powers & Airport intersection in Colorado Springs

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) mentions two reasons why it expects "minimal" traffic impacts from the project to build an overpass interchange at the busy intersection of Powers Road and Airport Boulevard.

"There's less development around this site compared to previous overpass projects," said CDOT engineer Wayne Pittman. "There's also a big empty field on the northeast side. So, we can do a lot of staging and other work there and do a lot of the other work offline."

As the project enters its second week, visible changes are earthmoving activity on that northeast plot, and concrete dividers around the northwest corner of Powers and Airport, as well as along northbound Powers.

The two-year, $46 million project will realign Airport slightly north of the current intersection to connect with Stewart Avenue, entering Peterson Space Force Base.

Airport will serve as the overpass above Powers and have the diverging diamond traffic configuration that exists at the Powers/Research Parkway overpass completed in 2022, as well as at the Fillmore Street overpass across Interstate 25.

The Powers/Airport intersection has become increasingly busy with traffic to and from Peterson, the Colorado Springs Airport, the Amazon delivery facility and US 24; Powers itself is State Highway 21.

Pittman said that above all, the project is designed to increase safety at the intersection by reducing crashes and improving access for pedestrians and cyclists.

"I think it's going to be another headache but this is what we've got to put up with nowadays," said local driver George Randall.

The overpass projects at Powers/Airport and Powers/Research mark a return to CDOT's original plan to build intersections at every major intersection along Powers; the current project will be the first overpass south of Platte Avenue.

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