El Paso County considering options for addressing longtime drainage issue in Cimarron Hills

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- For the past few years, KRDO 13 has reported on a crumbling drainage channel through the south side of Security-Widefield that contributes to flooding during heavy rains; last year, officials announced intentions to repair the channel this year after determining who has jurisdiction.

A similar issue has developed in the Cimarron Hills area, just east of the Colorado Springs city limits.

Several viewers have contacted KRDO 13's The Road Warrior about a drainage channel at the intersection of Ford Street and Seneca Road, and after seeing it, you may think it's worse than the Security-Widefield channel.

In addition to crumbling concrete, the channel is choked with weeds and is full of debris and sediment; as a result, the channel can't drain properly and occasionally floods Ford Street.

Rodney Wills works in the area and said that the channel has been a concern for years because no one was sure who has responsibility for maintaining it.

"I'm a skateboarder, and so I like to look at ditches that are possibly skateable -- and this one's definitely not skateable," he said. "It looks bad. But in the winter time, the water literally flows (Seneca), misses the gutter and just goes over (Ford). "It pretty much can't be contained by this ditch, even. It's that bad."

Flooding in the channel is slowly eroding the property of two adjacent businesses -- Bowers Automotive to the south and Overhead Door to the north.

Bowers has less of a buffer zone, and a manager said that the parking lot and interior of the repair shop floods occasionally, and the owner has applied new asphalt in an attempt to slow or stop the erosion.

The channel continues west through the next block at Valley Street but is in much better condition there; it ultimately empties into a new, larger concrete channel recently built near a new apartment complex along Paonia Street.

El Paso County revealed last week it is responsible for the channel.

"We've been aware of the channel's condition for the past six weeks," said Dan Gerhard, a county public works engineer. "We're thinking that one option is to remove the existing concrete, re-grade the channel and then install a new concrete channel. Another option that we're looking at is to possibly install a pipe that runs between Ford and Seneca. We're going to weigh the cost between the two."

He said that there's no timetable or cost estimate yet for improving the channel.

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