COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- At three o'clock in the afternoon steady traffic already fills the four lanes of the Austin Bluffs corridor, which is supposed to be expanded to six lanes.
As you make your way down south towards the airport there is also supposed to be an expressway which makes that commute more direct (the Milton E. Proby Parkway)
But both those projects along with 11 others are temporarily on hold.
Due to city budget cuts the city has cut 13 city Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority (PPRTA) project-related positions. As a result of the layoffs the city engineering division must now select an engineering company from the private sector to oversee the projects.
"We asked the [PP]RTA to pay for our staff but they didn't feel it was appropriate to use [PP]RTA funds to pay for city staff," explained city engineer Cam McNair.
Money for the capital projects themselves is not in jeopardy since it's not allocated from the city's general fund. Instead the money comes from PPRTA, a separate tax dedicated for this transportation program, said McNair.
Though the PPRTA won't pay for the city's staff to oversee these projects they are willing to pay for private sector management costs.
"We think it will be about three months while we go through a process of soliciting proposals from engineering companies in the private sector," estimated McNair.
Besides costing the projects more time -- 2014 is the deadline for project completion as dictated by voters in 2004 -- McNair worries going through the private sector will ultimately also cost more money.
"We weren't going to charge the [PP]RTA the city's overhead cost. We were simply going to ask them to pay the salary and benefit costs. So when we go out to the private sector firms they'll have to charge not just salary and benefits but also their overhead and profits and taxes they have to pay," said McNair.
Fifty percent of the city's PPRTA capital "A List" projects have been finished as approved by voters during the Nov. 2, 2004 election.
The Woodmen Road project will not be affected by these delays since the majority of that funding is from the federal stimulus program.
Following is a list of the remaining capital projects that are temporarily being suspended:
● South Metro Accessibility (Proby Pkwy.) Phase 1
● Austin Bluffs Corridor Improvements - Nevada Avenue to Academy Boulevard
● Austin Bluffs Corridor Improvements - Barnes Road to Old Farm Drive
● Fillmore/El Paso Street Improvements
● Vincent Drive Bridge at Cottonwood Creek
● Vincent Drive Extension
● Hancock Avenue Bridge at Templeton Gap Floodway
● Roadway Safety and Traffic Operations Projects:
Platte Avenue Corridor - Hancock to Union
Hwy. 24 at 21st Street Intersection
8th Street at Arcturus/Ramona Intersection
Hwy. 24 at 26th Street Intersection
Las Vegas at Royer Intersection and RR Crossing
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