Section of high sidewalk, steep alley driveway damaged by constant vehicle scraping in Colorado Springs

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The higher elevation of a neighborhood on the west side of 31st Street, just north of Pikes Peak Avenue, presents unique challenges for drivers who regularly use a steep alley.

To enter the alley, drivers turn right on southbound 31st Street to navigate over a steep driveway apron and cross a high sidewalk; it causes drivers to scrape their bumpers or the bottom of their vehicles, possibly damaging them and chopping up the street pavement and sidewalk there.

The damage to the street and sidewalk has accumulated over years.

"It's very dangerous," said Lisa Graham, a neighbor. "We've had lots of trucks get stuck. They've had to bring out tow trucks. It has damaged cars. It's terrible."

The alley is frequently used by homeowners who live along it, and by people being dropped off and picked up at the Rock of Ages Lutheran Church nearby.

"We finally got the city to come out and fill the potholes in the alley," Graham said. "Now, we just need the city to come out and fix the driveway problem. But it's been this way for so long, I'm not sure that calling them would do any good."

KRDO 13 carefully drove a news vehicle up and down the steep area without scraping, but other vehicles haven't fared as well.

Corey Farkas, the city's public works manager for operations and maintenance, said that he's familiar with the situation.

"At this point, there's really nothing that we can do, being maintenance," he explained. "We would need to reconstruct that roadway with the sidewalk to change those elevations on that -- and that's not something we typically do, in maintenance here. That would be a larger capital improvement project that would need to come through and do that."

Farkas said that we shouldn't expect changes anytime soon, because of limited resources and higher priorities for them.

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