People who drive Colo. 67 north of Woodland Park will have a detour in their future as work begins to replace a wooden bridge over Lovell Gulch.
The original plan was to work on one side of the span while allowing traffic to use the other side, but after completing bridgework on U.S. 24 near Cascade and Florissant in record time, SEMA Construction and the Department of Transportation approached the city with a new strategy.
On Oct. 21, Public Works Director William Alspach told city council that the new plan is to close the highway entirely and detour traffic onto Valley View and Piute streets.
“They plan to replace the entire bridge in two to five days, instead of two weeks,” he said.
Councilmember Eric Smith expressed concerns about traffic backups and noise in neighborhoods.
“There is a lot of traffic on 67 and there will be big backups,” he said. “I don’t care if the work gets done quicker. I would rather have less impact.”
Alspach said no matter how the bridge is replaced there will be traffic backups and noise, but this way the work is more likely to be finished before winter sets in.
Neighbors will be notified of the work and warned that some of it will take place at night but it will be finished well ahead of schedule.
Board of Adjustment appointment
Council appointed Victor Smith to fill an opening for an alternate on the Woodland Park Board of Adjustment, which is where people take appeals and variances when they are planning a construction project. Smith is a retired Woodland Park High School teacher and coach.
Annual chamber presentation
Woodland Park Chamber Pres. Debbie Miller presented information about the past year at the visitors center.
With a new weather cam, a “Community Profile Book,” a new community calendar and a city video, the chamber’s website had 2.3 million hits in the past year. There were 7,720 walk-in visitors and 5,593 phone calls, both slight increases over last year. The center’s 12 volunteers clocked 2,250 hours.
Miller estimated that the center brings in about $86,500 in return for the $36,000 the city invests — about $2.39 per dollar.
Red Ribbon Campaign
Woodland Park Police Officer Sean Going, school resource officer for the RE-2 school district introduced a group of Woodland Park Middle School children who are working on the schools celebration of Red Ribbon Week. The week, which is sponsored by the National Family Partnership, is a nationwide celebration with an anti alcohol, anti drug message for students.
After a slide presentation on Red Ribbon events at the middle schools, students handed out Twizzlers with the message “Don’t let drugs twist your mind.”
Mayor Steve Randolph then read a proclamation declaring Oct 23-31 Red Ribbon Campaign Week in Woodland Park.
Water trade
Council approved a resolution declaring that the Teller County Water and Sanitation District has satisfied its trade water obligation.
The district used to trade physical water from its wells for augmentations water — water that replaces water into a stream due to losses from well usage. However, after the city made changes to its treatment system, it became more cost effective for the district to the leave the water in the ground and allow the city to draw it up through its wells for treatment.
The resolution allows the district to go to the state for grants to make improvements to its system. A new contract with the water and sanitation district is in the works and will be presented at a future meeting.
Zen posted at 9:34 pm on Sat, Apr 23, 2011.
I've been in WP for 11 years now, and this is at least the 5th time in 11 years that the city has pushed up max water taps / population. We've gone from a projected buildout of 10,000 - 11,000 in 2000 now to nearly 14,000 as of 2011. Why the increase? Is it really about conservation efforts? Or about developer dollars? Have the courage to stick with convictions boys. Not keeping a large buffer in reserve is a major mistake. Err on the side of caution .. always err on the side of caution.