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Fort Collins outlines $339 million in capital projects, from Vine & Timberline signal to Power Trail underpass
Summary
City staff presented an annual overview of 33 capital projects totaling about $339 million, highlighting traffic-safety work, major utility replacements and multi‑use trail expansions; council questioned timelines, funding mixes and neighborhood outreach.
City engineering and parks officials on Tuesday briefed Fort Collins council on a $339 million set of capital projects slated for this construction season and next, describing traffic-safety upgrades, water-main replacements and trail expansions across North, Midtown and South planning areas.
The presentation, led by City Engineer Brad Buckman and capital-projects managers, laid out a project dashboard that staff said ties each project to previously adopted plans and scores work on six criteria including safety, greenhouse-gas reduction and community benefit. Buckman said the selected list includes 33 projects “$339,000,000 worth of work mainly executed this year and next.”
Staff highlighted several near-term items. Dana Hornkle said the Vine & Timberline intersection project — which includes a traffic signal and an interconnect with a railroad signal — is expected to finish around September after utility coordination with private providers and BNSF. Hornkle also described a bridge/pipe replacement at Timberline and Mountain Vista that staff said will reopen to traffic the week of May (next week) after addressing poor-condition infrastructure.
Parks staff described a new neighborhood park near Sykes Drive on an approximately 8-acre site, with construction targeted to begin in 2027 and a design focus on reduced irrigated turf and native plantings. In Midtown, the Taft Hill corridor project is moving toward construction contingent on final funding; staff said the city’s portion is roughly 10% of the total and that about 59% of the project funding is grant money.
Public-utility projects noted included a half‑mile, 20‑inch water main on LeMay Avenue driven by a series of recent emergency breaks — staff said the city repaired seven water‑main breaks in two months last year and is replacing vulnerable pipe with longer‑life plastic. At the wastewater plant, staff described an early‑stage, high‑cost headworks/preliminary treatment upgrade to remove trash and inorganics and protect downstream processes.
Council members raised timing and outreach questions: one councilor asked why the Spring Canyon splash pad would be offline during summer, and staff replied they now expect it to reopen in August after replacement of a life‑expired facility. Members also pressed for more clarity on how the Transportation Capital Improvement dashboard prioritizes projects across grant constraints and long project timelines. Staff said some projects are driven by specific funding allowances and that project prioritization can shift slightly when funding sources or safety metrics change.
Staff committed to follow‑up materials — including a memo refreshing the parks/top priority list for the budget cycle and more detail about the five‑year capital look that they said is on the workplan — and to answer questions about grant makeup and comparative scoring.
