El Paso County is moving ahead on a long-dreamed trail touring the hills west of Colorado Springs.

Ute Pass Regional Trail has been more than a decade in the making, predating a master plan published in 2015. The plan maps the 11-mile trail running from Manitou Springs up through Cascade and Green Mountain Falls, ending around Crystola near the Teller County line.

Small parts of Ute Pass Regional Trail have been added since 2003 — mostly toward the far west boundaries, opposite the trailhead beside the Manitou Incline. From the Incline base, the trail starts about 3 miles up to a turnaround, where panels are posted recalling the historic route used by the Ute people.

A gap has existed westward to the Cascade-Chipita Park area. Part of that gap could be filled later this year.

A 1.5-mile segment is set for construction under the El Paso County parks department’s capital improvement program for 2025. The segment will stretch from Winnemucca Road in Cascade-Chipita Park, following Chipita Park Road down to Spring Street in Cascade, where a trailhead is planned with parking and restrooms.

The idea is something of a commuter path — an alternative route on foot or bike roughly following the Ute Pass stretch of U.S. 24. 

“I think we’re all excited to get this project going again, to get boots on the ground again,” said Jason Meyer, overseeing the project for El Paso County.

Ute Pass Regional Trail hasn’t seen development since 2020. That’s when a section was finished from Ute Pass Elementary down to Winnemucca Road. Previously, a section was built from the trail’s western terminus around Crystola down through Green Mountain Falls to the school.

“We’re trying to work our way back down into Manitou Springs,” Meyer said.

That has been complicated. Design for the upcoming 1.5-mile segment has been in the works since 2019, Meyer said.

“It’s a narrow stretch of right-of-ways, there’s a lot of utilities conflicts to work through and drainage that we obviously have to account for,” he said. “So it’s just been a really long, thoughtful design process.”

Once complete, he said, a little more than a mile will be left to finish the full 11-mile vision — from Spring Street in Cascade tying into the trail out of Manitou.

“That’s gonna be our most challenging piece,” Meyer said, explaining more right-of-ways along U.S. 24, pedestrian bridges over Fountain Creek and agreements with Colorado Springs Utilities. “That’s why we’ve been kind of waiting to do everything but that one.”

He was eager for the upcoming addition to “refocus” the project. “It kinda gets it back on people’s radars and helps with momentum on getting this last piece done.”

The next 1.5 miles will be paved, matching stretches through Cascade and Green Mountain Falls. (The trail from Manitou is the only dirt stretch.)

“It’s gonna have recreational value, but there’s another layer to it, which is providing a safe, pedestrian corridor for anyone living in those communities,” Meyer said. “It’ll be like a commuter route, in addition to those people who come to recreate and want that challenge” of an 11-mile trail.

The significance goes beyond that, he said.

Ute Pass Regional Trail is part of Ring the Peak Trail, the loop envisioned for the circumference of Pikes Peak that has been many more years in the making. And Meyer pointed to the 1912 dedication of the historic Ute trail out of Manitou.

“It’s very unique, the historic and cultural significance of it — to be able to walk in the same footsteps of the Ute Tribe,” Meyer said. “I think it’s pretty significant to keep that and honor it.”

The 1.5-mile trail construction could gain final approvals “in the next couple of months,” he said. The county will then put the job out to bid, with hopes of finishing by the end of the year.

The project is being funded through the Federal Highway Administration’s Transportation Alternatives and Transportation Improvement programs.