"No man's land" would get improvements, officials hope

A lot of hopes are riding on a West Colorado Avenue road project that is about to go forward after years, if not decades, of effort.

A vote by El Paso County commissioners Tuesday basically opens the door to receiving a $300,000 federal grant that will be used to plan the future of West Colorado Avenue from about 30th Street to just inside the Manitou Springs city limits — an area known as “no man’s land.”

The hope is that road and infrastructure improvements will eventually lure more small businesses to the area, bring in more pedestrian traffic and diminish the presence of vagrants, panhandlers and criminals who have put residents, shop owners and employees on edge.

“This is the beginning step in revitalizing the district,” said Michael Crepeau, who owns a west-side business and is a member of the Avenue Merchants Association, formed about two years ago in part to deal with vagrancy, crime and other problems bedeviling the area.

The effort to improve the 1.3-mile stretch of road has been going on for several years, if not decades, said County Engineer Andre Brackin. The Colorado Department of Transportation owns and maintains it, but does not consider it a priority, so little money has been spent on its upkeep. There are stretches with no curbs, gutters or sidewalks, and pedestrian access is difficult.

“The last time they resurfaced the road was 20 years ago,” said El Paso County Commissioner Sallie Clark.

And because CDOT owns the road, neither Colorado Springs nor El Paso County can spend money to fix the problems, Brackin said — not that either might want to take on the project, considering the road crosses through Colorado Springs city limits, Manitou Springs and unincorporated parts of the county.

Brackin said the ownership issue could be resolved by having CDOT give up control of Colorado Avenue, perhaps in exchange for another road, but nothing has been decided.

Planning for the western-most segment of West Colorado Avenue is expected to begin in March with extensive participation from the public. Some of the $300,000 grant will be used to pay specialty consultants, Brackin said. In a year or so, officials expect to have a better idea of what people want from a road improvement project that could cost about $20 million, and they’ll start to look for financing.

Clark knows that a road project may not directly eradicate vagrancy, vandalism and crime — problems that a parade of Colorado Avenue business owners and residents discussed at length during Tuesday’s commission meeting. But she believes it’s a first step, and a long-awaited one, that can combine with other efforts to address neighborhood concerns.

“There’s got to be different pieces of this that have to come together,” said Clark, who has been trying to secure a grant for a Colorado Avenue project since about 2004.

“Just because you fix roads doesn’t mean you solve all the crime issues,” she added. “But if you cultivate an infrastructure that is in excellent condition and deals with a lot of accessibility issues — pedestrian issues — it will look better and be more attractive for new businesses to move in. We hope as a result, the criminal element will eventually disappear and we’ll have an area where more businesses want to come in.”

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