Regular users of parks and trails notice everything that goes on there and they care a lot about it.

Consider the recent dust-up over a proposal to close a trail in the Bear Creek drainage west of Colorado Springs to protect habitat for the rare greenback cutthroat trout.

Reader Wade Bowe is no exception: “There is an underpass beneath I-25 used by runners and mountain bikers to access the Santa Fe Trail by the Anthem building on the north side. There is a dirt trail on the east side of I-25 that goes south all the way to Interquest.  The trail is between I-25 and the development with the movie theater, the brewery etc. Someone installed a barbed wire fence across the access to the trail at Interquest, preventing runners and bikers from accessing the trail leading to the underpass. Who put up that fence and why? Will they put in a gate for bikers and runners to keep access to the Santa Fe Trail? Now people working at the businesses along Federal Drive have to run or bike along Voyager to Middle Creek, down through the Anthem parking lot to get to the underpass leading to the Santa Fe Trail. It would be great if whoever put up that fence would allow access to the trail for runners and bikers again.”

City staffers got some questions about the fence, but it was the work of the Colorado Department of Transportation, which is working to widen I-25 all the way to Baptist Road to the north. Widening that stretch of the interstate is important to anyone who drives between Colorado Springs and Denver, so this is the cost of progress.

CDOT spokesman Bob Wilson said the fence “is part of our project that we’ve fenced off. That part should be done by sometime this summer.”

Reader Frank Rakoczy asked, “Do you know why the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail, north of Woodmen Road, has been closed?”

Answer: “Colorado Springs Utilities is conducting utility work along Monument Creek north of Woodmen Road.  The Pikes Peak Greenway Trail remains open and a short temporary trail detour is provided. Trail users should watch for construction traffic crossing the trail. To facilitate construction access to the project site, the Edmondson Trailhead on the north side of Woodmen Road has been temporarily closed.”

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Got a question? Contact Barry Noreen at 636-0363 or at barry.noreen@gazette.com.

Photo by

MARK REIS