Manitou Springs expects Ruxton corridor construction no earlier than 2028

Construction on Manitou Springs’ Ruxton Avenue corridor improvements is not expected to begin before 2028. The city plans to continue design, floodplain permitting and property work in 2027, a staff memorandum prepared for City Council says. The project would improve about 3,400 feet of roadway, sidewalks and drainage.

Design work identified floodplain review needs that were not anticipated under the project’s original No-Rise Certification approach. The project now requires a Conditional Letter of Map Revision before construction and a Letter of Map Revision after construction to document the project as built. Staff expects the map-review process to take at least a year and says the city must coordinate the floodplain model with roadway elevations and pavement design.

The city’s planning estimate for property interests has grown from about 50 to about 80. That estimate covers possible right-of-way actions, including acquisitions, easements, licenses and other resolutions—not 80 property purchases. The actions must follow Colorado Department of Transportation procedures. Staff identifies them as a schedule risk because final design and floodplain modeling can affect property impacts, and property clearance is required before construction authorization.

City staff is scheduled to update Council on the project at a Nov. 10 work session, where the agenda says no decisions will be made. Staff recommends no action on the project at the session and says design, permitting and right-of-way work will continue in 2027.

Staff has also discussed, but not finalized, a roughly $1.5 million funding swap with El Paso County. The proposal would defer about $1.24 million in federal Surface Transportation Program funds and $258,150 in local match from fiscal year 2027, with about $482,715 identified for fiscal 2029 and $1,017,285 for fiscal 2030. The work-session agenda packet lists the swap as proposed, not approved.