For decades there has been a major blank spot on local trail maps between Manitou Springs and Green Mountain Falls, but that gap is shrinking this year thanks to an extension of the Ute Pass Regional Trail. The El Paso County Parks Department has been constructing a 1.5 mile paved and gravel trail from the Fountain Avenue, Highway 24 intersection in Cascade (near The Wines of Colorado and Pikes Peak Highway) to existing Teller County trail at Winnemucca Road.
“We’ll be able to connect all of the neighborhoods and the communities along Chipita Park Road and Fountain Avenue with the only on-street sidewalk in these communities,” says Jason Meyer, division manager of park planning for El Paso County Parks Department. “It provides ADA access to all these neighbors. It connects Ute Pass Elementary to those community hubs. There’s a community center, post office, businesses. We also widened Chipita Park Road, so we are providing better access in emergencies. We’re doing drainage improvements. We’re doing a lot. It’s more than just providing a trail. It’s providing multiple benefits to the community.”
The project takes an important step as a segment of the larger Ring the Peak Trail. An official trailhead and Ring the Peak portal is part of the work, with $400,000 provided through a grant assigned by Pikes Peak Outdoors, Meyer says. That will leave 1.5 miles left to connect Ring the Peak through Ute Pass — not far, but its most difficult section.
“We are going to be within CDOT right of way. We are going to be crossing Fountain Creek, and we’re going to be building on Colorado Springs Utilities watershed property,” Meyer says. “So we have some very large stakeholders that need to be engaged with us and aligned on timing and funding. We’re going to need partnerships to get that last space done.”
That final portion of the Ute Pass Regional Trail is currently on hold as El Paso County prioritizes other work within its regional park system. In the meantime, Meyer is pleased with progress on its current complex trail addition that is on schedule to be completed in December.
“We’re excited that we’ve been able to progress this year with this project, and that it has been running smoothly,” he says. “We’ve heard from the community; they’re already using sections of it. We’re excited to get this done this year and have it open to everyone this fall.”
Find more info at parks.elpasoco.com.
Find more updates here on new trails in Colorado Springs happening now and in the future.
