Automobile History and Highway 24 in Ute Pass - Part 4

By Steve Plutt © 2023

Part 4 - Four Lanes to Divide and the Waldo Canyon Fire

1993 saw the continuing effort by CDOT to improve highway 24 west to Divide.  That was the year they installed a “climbing lane” up Bluebird Hill and realigned the entrance of South 40 Road and the Trout Creek Road; now they would both enter 24 at the same location instead of separate entrances as it used to be.  But the downside was snarled, backed-up traffic for months with five to ten minute waits each way, all work day long.  Meanwhile, the four-lane project to the top of Bluebird was pushed back four years at the earliest, perhaps longer.

In 1995, CDOT told Woodland Park that they’d get a million dollars every two years for Main Street improvements.  That year the first phase of those improvements began at Midland and Fairview Street and went west. They poured new sidewalks and installed ornamental streetlights and many other improvements.

Also in 1997, the City of Woodland Park told its Public Works Director, David Buttery, to open up talks with CDOT again regarding the bypass. Those talks went nowhere as the State said they did not have any money for a Woodland Park bypass and the money they did have was to meet higher priority highway improvements elsewhere in the state.

The year 2000 brought in rejuvenated talk of getting a bypass prior to the end of the 20th Century. Well, that renewed effort lasted about two seconds because all of the necessary easements could not be obtained.   However, CDOT's work on four lanes up Bluebird were now going strong, and just in time for the summer tourist season. That construction timing brought many complaints from Woodland Park’s citizens and businesses as well as concerns from the city itself.

The Woodland Park City Council was worried about the impact the construction would have during the summer season. Another worry was that the construction of Main Street sidewalk improvements, off-street parking behind the businesses that border main street and that construction of a median downtown would not begin until late June.  The twin construction projects (Bluebird Hill and downtown improvements) had Council member Gene Sperry alarmed.  He said, “Last summer we had long, two-lane backups through downtown. Now, with median and other construction, I think we are headed for disaster.” But ultimately construction continued in order to complete everything before cold weather prevented paving.

By mid-June of that summer, the business folks were outraged at all the construction.  One business owner said his business was down 60 or 70 percent. The construction had Farmcrest assistant manager telling the Courier “They’re killing me.”

“Red Williams, whose son Mike owned Wms. Brothers Furniture Co. on Midland Avenue, said “We need a bypass.”  He claimed that the heavy traffic through town was the blame for loss of business and the devaluation of business property.  He also asked Teller County for a reduction of his tax bill. The county commissioners agreed and reduced it with the assessor saying that loss of income had indeed devalued business property.

Well, the summer passed by with massive traffic backups and delays.  It was in the Fall of 2000 that motorists were still sitting in seemingly endlessly long queues waiting to get past the highway 24/67 intersection. The City of Woodland Park was also still working on their requirements on main street, which was drainage system improvements and the state mandated medians.  Main Street was truly a mess, but CDOT’s project manager told the Courier “It’ll be worth the wait” and that by the end of October a lot of the congestion will be relieved and that by late spring or early summer of 2001, the project should be completed.

When everything was said and done, the improvements were made, the four lanes of 24 were extended to the top of Bluebird Hill and everyone survived.

Next on CDOT’s list for our area was the widening of Highway 24 from Bluebird Hill to Divide. That started in the late summer of 2001. Eventually that project was also completed but took what seemed like forever to complete.

Since 2001, Ute Pass was pretty quite with occasional delays for lane stripping or other maintenance.

Effects of the Waldo Canyon Fire on Ute Pass

On June 22, 2012, the Waldo Canyon Fire started that resulted in two people dieing and 346 homes destroyed.  It also destroyed most all trees and vegetation above and along Ute Pass in the Cascade area and other areas not seen from highway 24.  The consequence of this was horrible flooding and the closure of Ute Pass.

June 24, 2012, Ute Pass was closed to all traffic due to the Waldo Canyon Fire.

June 27, 2012—Ute Pass remained closed in both directions from Cave of the Winds to just west of Crystola due to the wildfire.  It remained closed for several days. Alternate routes were Rampart Range Road, Cañon City, Jarre Canyon or the Old Stage Road. 

On July 30, 2012, rain brought five feet of mud and much debris onto highway 24 near Cascade. A little further west, it completely washed out the Ute Pass Elementary school’s playground and closed Ute Pass from about 6 p.m. until 6 a.m. the following morning.

July 1, 2012 flooding started at five in the afternoon. A half inch rainstorm equaled mud, large rocks and trees flowing down and out of Waldo Canyon onto the highway, flooding Manitou Springs and destroying three homes.

July 10, 2012: Over an inch of rain again sent mud and debris down onto Ute Pass. 24 vehicles were swept off the highway or were stuck in mud. Ute Pass was closed for three hours.

August 9, 2012 had more cars swept off the highway after a one inch rain hit the burn scar. 

In 2013, CDOT closed US 24 in or near Ute Pass 17 times for various things but included three flood events—the worst of which was on Aug. 9, when, in addition to flooding, mud and debris covered the highway and one fatality was recorded when the body of a Divide resident was found buried under debris along side the highway.

April 25, 2013 - CDOT closed the right lane of westbound U.S. 24, one mile west of Manitou Springs, on Friday, April 26, to allow crews to break up the boulders that came down onto the highway Tuesday night. Drivers experienced some slowing through the area while the lane was closed from 9 a.m. until noon. CDOT Maintenance pushed the boulders onto the right shoulder area after the rockslide to allow the lane to reopen to traffic that night.

February 12, 2014 saw a major box culvert installed at Waldo Canyon.  This was to improve water flow under highway 24 due to flooding coming down Waldo Canyon. This project negatively affected traffic until May of the same year.

Beginning on Friday, May 1, 2015, CDOT began placing their maintenance crews at three locations in Ute Pass:  Cave of the Winds Road, Cascade and Green Mountain Falls.  When storms did hit the area, snow plow trucks would travel up and down the Pass for monitoring purposes, making sure water or debris flow remained off the roadway.  When the highway needed to be closed, CDOT and the State Patrol would drive the closed section, making sure nobody and/or their vehicles remained in the closure area. This did happen and had a large impact on commuters traveling from Colorado Springs to points west on 24.  Before the highway was reopened to traffic, CDOT assessed the condition of the highway, making sure any storm-related debris had been removed and the highway was safe for travel.

This was about the last of the Waldo Canyon Fire impact on Ute Pass. From then on to present, nothing major occurred in Ute Pass traffic wise.

The Rainbow Falls Bridge was closed from August through late September of 2016 when repairs took place.  It only affected traffic coming onto 24 from Manitou.

September and November of  2018 was when repairs had to be made to the stone walls in Ute Pass that were constructed decades ago but were now affected by flooding.  

From June through December 2018, contract crews completed rockfall mitigation at 16 locations along US Highway 24, from Cascade to Manitou Springs. They removed scaled rock, installed rock anchors, installed wire mesh and concrete barriers, cleaned out ditches and installed new guardrail. This was all done to help avoid damage and unanticipated closures of Ute Pass due to natural rockslides. While this was being done, eastbound Ute Pass from Cascade to Manitou was sectioned off to allow for both east and west bound traffic.

January 18, 2019, CDOT started on a 17 mile project to install fiber optic cable to connect a critical link between Woodland Park and Interstate 25. This was nine months of construction that had minor traffic delays. The fiber optic installation project is one of multiple Ute Pass Projects along US 24 that began in mid-2018 including the recently completed Rockfall Mitigation work and the repairs to the old stone walls.

In the summer of 2022, Woodland Park traffic was rerouted from highway 24 to surface city streets to allow for paving and patching operations.  From June 27 to June 30 there were full highway closures, single lane closures and delays.

February 18, 2023. So here I am finishing this lightweight, unofficial account of the Automotive History of Ute Pass and other than some rock mitigation, resurfacing and other minor maintenance projects causing minor delays, Ute Pass is essentially unchanged since the completion of four lanes to Divide.

Resurfacing of highway 24 from Woodland Park down to Chipita Park will happen in the summer of 2023 according to CDOT’s schedule on their website.  And it badly needs it.  Large potholes and missing pavement can be seen in many places through that stretch of highway.

And as for bypassing Woodland Park? It never has happened yet.

When the State Highway Department wanted to build a bypass around the town, businesses and the Woodland Park Chamber of Commerce put a swift halt to it every time.

Today, Woodland Park is a bottleneck, traffic nightmare.  Businesses got what they wanted though, heavy traffic cruising past their places of business. But do they stop? Well, for many of the motorists headed to outdoor adventures west of Teller County, by the time they get past the strip mall like atmosphere on the east side of Woodland Park, they have no desire to stop in its downtown area for anything, they just want to get the heck out of this traffic jam.

Note: the views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of the Ute Pass Historical Society

Download a PDF of this series with bibliography and footnotes.

Automobile History and Highway 24 in Ute Pass.pdf

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