Home

Segment Details
Bijou
Fillmore
Nevada Rockrimmon
Woodmen - Academy

Project Maps
Photos

October 2007
October marked a significant milestone on the COSMIX project, when the Bijou bridge reopened to traffic. In addition, COSMIX crews began the final piece of work in the North Nevada/Rockrimmon segment when the Rockrimmon/Mark Dabling intersection was closed for reconstruction. Other progress on the project included:

• Continued placement of architectural railings on the Bijou bridge
• Landscaping and streetscape was completed on and near the Bijou bridge
• Completed asphalt paving between South Nevada/Tejon and Cimarron Street
• Utilities and drainage on the Spruce St. cul de sac was completed
• Northbound bridge structure over Colorado Ave. was completed

September 2007
This month, crews worked around the clock to prepare for the opening of the Bijou bridge on October 1. Progress became visible to the traveling public throughout the corridor when three lanes of I-25 became available between North Academy Boulevard and Bijou Street. In addition, crews made progress on the following:

• Completed landscaping behind the Pulpit Rock noise wall.
• Opened three lanes north and southbound between Bijou and Uintah Streets, allowing three lanes throughout the project between North Academy Boulevard and Bijou Street.
• Continued placing decorative railing and light fixtures on the Bijou bridge.
• Continued construction on the landscaping on the northwest corner of Bijou Street and the I-25 interchange, and underneath the Bijou bridge over Monument Creek.
• Continued construction on the I-25 bridges over Colorado Avenue.
• Reopened the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail under the Bijou bridge.
• Prepared for opening of the Bijou bridge.
• Completed paving one-half mile south of North Academy Boulevard, and between the Martin Luther King bypass and Circle Drive.

August 2007
Good weather in August allowed the COSMIX Crews to make quite a bit of progress. Some of the significant COSMIX work in August included:

• Poured concrete on the new I-25 southbound bridge over Colorado Avenue
• Replaced road panels and bridge expansion joints on I-25 southbound between Fontanero and Uintah streets
• Eliminated “the dip” on northbound I-25 at Nevada Avenue with a process known as “mud-jacking”
• Opened the Nevada/Corporate Drive intersection
• Began placing decorative railing on the Bijou bridge
• Installed light fixtures on the Bijou bridge
• Began construction on the aesthetic upgrades on the northwest corner of Bijou Street and the I-25 interchange
• Began landscaping underneath the Bijou bridge over Monument Creek

July 2007
The month of July began with a COSMIX gift to Colorado Springs. Before the July 4th holiday, construction crews opened up the new third lane on north and southbound I-25 between Woodmen Road and Garden of the Gods Road, giving the traveling public three lanes all the way from North Academy Boulevard to Fillmore Street.
In addition, crews also worked on the following:

• Switched traffic onto the new northbound I-25 bridge over Colorado Avenue and began construction of the new southbound I-25 bridge over Colorado Avenue, including caisson drilling and retaining wall construction.
• Continued work on the Corporate Centre Drive/Nevada Avenue connection.
• Completed the new North Nevada Avenue alignment.
• Finished placing panels and staining noise walls at Uintah Street and Pulpit Rock.
• Completed final striping between Woodmen Road and North Academy Boulevard.
• Continued construction to repair concrete panels and bridge joints between Fontanero and Uintah Streets.
• Continued work on the Bijou bridge including:
• Completed paving of the northbound on and off-ramps
• Completed placement of the bridge deck over Monument Creek and the Union Pacific Railroad
• Completed 75 percent of the sidewalk and median concrete work
• Completed the concrete staining of the abutments and pier columns
• Began architectural stone veneer installation and painting of the decorative railings

June 2007
June 30 marked the two-year anniversary for construction on the COSMIX project. With two years of construction behind us and only six months left on the project, crews made some very visible progress in June, to include:

• Completed concrete staining on most of the North Nevada/Rockrimmon interchange.
• Completed the Pulpit Rock noise wall.
• Opened the third lane southbound between Nevada Avenue and Fillmore Street.
• Poured the concrete median and sidewalks for the Bijou bridge over I-25.
• Poured two of the four deck sections of the Bijou bridge over Monument Creek and the Union Pacific Railroad.
• Re-opened the southbound I-25 off-ramp at Bijou Street.
• Paved the northbound on and off-ramps for the Bijou interchange.
• Completed the reinstallation and rehabilitation of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) wall along Monument Creek near Downtown.
• Shifted traffic onto the new portions of the I-25 bridges over Colorado Avenue and the Midland Trail.
• Completed roadway work on the west side of the Bijou bridge.

May 2007
Several major milestones were completed in May, most notably, both north and southbound I -25 were taken off the frontage roads and put back onto the elevated interstate lanes in the Nevada/Rockrimmon area. It took just less than a year to complete the 2.5 miles of new interstate lanes, eight new bridges, and 1.8 miles of retaining walls associated with the interstate in this area. Some of the significant COSMIX work in May included:

• Shifted southbound onto the new interstate in the Nevada/Rockrimmon area on May 4.
• With the southbound traffic shift, the outdated left-hand interstate exit to North Nevada Avenue was permanently eliminated and replaced with a right hand exit.
• Demolished the old northbound I-25 bridge over the former southbound exit to North Nevada Avenue.
• Shifted northbound I-25 traffic onto the new northbound interstate in the Nevada/Rockrimmon area on May 24.
• Poured the remaining two bridge monuments on the east side of the Bijou bridge.
• Paved northbound I-25 over the Monument Creek and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Wall.
• Reconstructed and reopened the entry to the parking lot of the Bijou Street Denny’s in less than two weeks.
• Began placing noise wall panels for the Pulpit Rock neighborhood sound barrier.

April 2007
Throughout April crews worked to complete the southbound mainline in the North Nevada/Rockrimmon segment in anticipation of shifting traffic off the frontage road and onto the new interstate lanes in early May. Other significant COSMIX work in April included:

• Poured the last of twelve bridge decks in the North Nevada/Rockrimmon segment on April 6.
• Placed the remaining Bijou bridge girders over Monument Creek and the Union Pacific Railroad.
• Poured two of the four Bijou bridge monuments.
• Poured the northbound I-25 bridge deck over Colorado Avenue.
• Closed Bijou Street from I-25 to Spruce Street to begin raising the grade for the Bijou bridge.
• Began the rehabilitation of the northbound Midland Bridge deck.
• Demolished the remainder of the old northbound I-25 bridge over Monument Creek in the North Nevada/Rockrimmon segment.
• Completed pouring the southbound mainline between the bridges in the North Nevada/Rockrimmon segment.

March 2007
Progress has begun to visibly accelerate in the Colorado Avenue to Bijou Street segment with dramatic changes to the corridor’s appearance. Some of the significant COSMIX work in March included:

• Placed the girders for the Bijou Street bridge over I-25 and poured the bridge deck.
• Constructed the north and southbound I-25 lanes under the Bijou Street bridge.
• Shifted northbound I-25 traffic under the new Bijou Street bridge.
• Began the demolition of the south half of the Cimarron Street bridge over Conejos Street and the UPRR.
• Finished pouring piers for the Bijou bridge over Monument Creek and the UPRR.
• Placed girders for the northbound I-25 bridge over Colorado Avenue.
• Placed caissons and columns for the Pulpit Rock noise wall
• Poured the northbound bridge deck over Monument Creek in the Nevada / Rockrimmon area.

COSMIX construction crews reached 40 percent completion on the Bijou Street Interchange last week, when traffic on north and southbound Interstate 25 was shifted onto the new concrete lanes under the Bijou Street bridge. The shift marked the second major milestone in the Bijou segment. The first milestone was accomplished earlier in March, when crews set girders for the Bijou Street bridge over I-25.

February 2007
Construction crews received a reprieve from the unusual amounts of snow in January and February as temperatures began to warm up. Although the snow and cold temperatures returned mid-February, workers made significant progress in the Colorado Avenue to Bijou Street segment and the Nevada/Rockrimmon segment. Some of the significant COSMIX work in February included:

• Shifted northbound I-25 traffic over the Midland bridge to the west to allow for the northbound deck rehabilitation.
• Began placing the northbound retaining wall between Colorado Avenue and Bijou Street.
• Continued with the demolition of the Bijou bridge over Monument Creek and the Union Pacific Rail Road.
• Poured the center piers and placed the abutment panels for the Bijou bridge over I-25.
• Opened the southbound I-25 off-ramp to Garden of the Gods road in its final configuration.
• Re-striped north and southbound I-25 from North Nevada Avenue to Woodmen Road to accommodate the opening of the southbound auxiliary lane from Woodmen Road to Corporate Centre Drive.
• Opened the southbound off-ramp to Corporate Centre Drive.
• Poured the I-25 bridge decks over the Rockrimmon Boulevard extension.
• Poured the southbound I-25 bridge deck over Monument Creek in the Nevada/Rockrimmon area.
• Refreshed the striping throughout the corridor several times after the last few winter storms began to deteriorate the pavement markings.

January 2007
January marked the start of construction on the Bijou bridge.
Despite the snow and cold temperatures, crews moved ahead on the demolition of the bridge over I-25 and over Monument Creek and the Union Pacific Rail Road.

Highlighted below are some of the other areas where crews made progress:

• Continued work on the north and southbound I-25 bridges over Monument Creek, Nevada Avenue, Rockrimmon Boulevard, Mark Dabling Boulevard and the Union Pacific Rail Road.
• Continued construction on northbound I-25 over Colorado Avenue.
• Completed rehabilitation work on the southbound bridge over the Midland Trail.
• Completed demolition of the Bijou bridge over I-25.
• Began demolition of the Bijou bridge over Monument Creek and the Union Pacific Rail Road (40 percent complete).
• Continued work on the caissons for the Monument Valley Park Noise Walls.
• Began placing precast columns for the Monument Valley Park Noise Walls.

COSMIX Progress for 2006

COSMIX Progress for 2005