Colorado Springs Utilities CEO discusses project on road to Cog Railway

Following the June 25 State of the Utility address, Colorado Springs Utilities CEO Travas Deal spoke with the Pikes Peak Bulletin about his organization's relationship with Manitou Springs and the project on Ruxton Avenue, which hundreds of thousands of people use to access the Cog Railway each year.

"What we always try to do with Manitou is treat them just like all of our customers," he said. "Ruxton [Avenue] is a huge corridor for all the great visitation. Manitou is a beautiful town and a lot of people come there to visit, so when it gets into Ruxton, all of the projects, we want to do it at the right time [so] that we can coordinate with other Manitou City projects."

On June 28, a major water main break near Ruxton and Osage Avenues led to a full closure of Ruxton Avenue to all vehicles and bicycles. The closure was necessary to protect public safety and allow City crews to perform emergency infrastructure repairs. As a result of the closure, the Cog Railway cancelled service for the day.

"We have a main water line that comes down Ruxton from that hydro [plant]," said Deal. "As we start to take a look at that and make sure we're refurbishing that, and we do that at the same time as … underground [utility lines]. Undergrounding is gonna have to be heavily contributed from the City of Manitou, just like our customers, they have to pay 50% for voluntary undergrounding. We're still working through some of that, but Manitou is such a huge part of our community. We're always gonna continue to support them, to make sure that when we do projects, we do it in collaboration with Manitou."

Ruxton [Avenue] is a huge corridor for all the great visitation. - Travas Deal, Colorado Springs Utilities CEO

During a February City Council meeting, City Administrator Denise Howell noted that the cost for undergrounding utility lines was estimated at $23 million, while the City's budget for the project was just $4.8 million.

"Manitou is small, so the funding isn't always as probably plentiful as what they would like," said Deal. "We're always working through that, but that's sort of how important Ruxton is, and how important Manitou is, for us to make sure we're collaborating."

Impacted by declining revenue from recreational marijuana sales, the Manitou Springs City Council has been scrutinizing the city's budget. During this week's Council meeting, Manitou leadership passed an amended budget for 2025 that included cuts across city departments and other cost-saving measures, reducing expenditures by over $650,000.

In addition to budgetary concerns, Manitou Springs has experienced higher-than-average employee turnover, particularly among city engineers - three in as many years - and in the planning and public works departments.

While the Ruxton Avenue project remains an open question, Colorado Springs Utilities is expanding infrastructure east of Colorado Springs to support potential new growth. "A lot of our infrastructure we're putting in is allowing us to build out our city," said Deal. "If we annex or build beyond that, it's going to make it easier to bring on future work … We're always going to support growth whenever we can and make sure we have the infrastructure in there. We'll see what the future holds when it gets into growth out east, but we are building our infrastructure out to take us at least out through the city."