The Powers Extension Is Coming Through Flying Horse. Who Gets a Sound Wall Is Still an Open Question.

"We're told that the level of noise will not be disturbing to the community," a Flying Horse resident told KRDO in September. "I question that. I'm not sure. My question to the builders is, once the road is completed, will they do another noise assessment?"

The City of Colorado Springs has already answered her in writing. Its project FAQ says a noise analysis after construction "is not anticipated." For anyone buying near the corridor, that answer defines the risk. The noise study for the Powers Boulevard Extension is still running. Even if it finds an impact, the rules make a funded sound wall in Flying Horse unlikely. And once the road opens, the City doesn't plan to measure again. Whatever a home on the corridor edge sounds like after mainline construction wraps up, which is scheduled for 2027 through 2030, is mostly being settled now, before anyone can hear it.

What's going up between Highway 83 and Voyager Parkway

The extension is planned as an expressway, built like the existing stretch of Powers between Research Parkway and Old Ranch Road. The plans include a new interchange at Highway 83, an overpass over Black Squirrel Creek, underpasses beneath Ridgeline Drive and Flying Horse Club Drive, and an overpass at Old Northgate Road. According to KRDO's September 10 report, the road will run north from the Highway 83 interchange through part of the original Flying Horse golf course and under the Voyager Parkway bridge. KRDO reported three of four planned bridges taking shape. It also noted that some of the earth mounds crews have built are nearly as tall as the roofs of nearby homes.

Here's how 2026 has gone so far, based on the City's construction emails:

Ridgeline is still closed between Hawk Stone Drive and Veneto Way, and the City hasn't posted a reopening date. Flying Horse Club Drive stays open with one lane each way. The City also says the separate Temple project at Flying Horse Club Drive is privately managed and isn't part of its work. The bridges come first so traffic can keep moving. Gayle Sturdivant, the City's deputy public works director, told KRDO that finishing them early means the contractor can "go underneath them" and stay off local roads once mainline construction starts. That mainline work is scheduled for 2027 through 2030. KRDO put the total cost at $140 million.

So the construction itself is predictable, and the City publishes the schedule. The open question is what the finished freeway will sound like.

The 1998 date that applies to every Flying Horse address

The alignment is older than the neighborhood. Powers Boulevard went into the city's Major Thoroughfare Plan in 1963. The concept design and route for this stretch were approved in 1997, before Flying Horse or Northgate was developed.

The 1998 federal decision on the corridor set what the City calls the "date of public knowledge," January 1998. The City's FAQ says development approved after that date is subject to the understanding "that funding for noise mitigation may not apply (e.g., developments within Flying Horse)." Flying Horse was annexed into the city on Oct. 28, 2003, more than five years later. The City adds that Powers was in every development plan for the area and that right-of-way was set aside for it.

Under federal rules, the neighborhood is treated as having been built next to a highway everyone already knew was coming. That's why the noise study can't settle the question on its own. A study can find that a home will be too loud, and the funding question will still lean against Flying Horse. Coverage of the study goes back to 2025. Even then, The Gazette's July 2025 preview pointed out that doing a study didn't guarantee noise walls or berms.

The steps between a noise finding and a berm

The 1998 funding question isn't the only hurdle. The City's FAQ lays out a series of steps, and a mitigation proposal has to clear every one of them in order. The study area is a 500-foot buffer from the edge of the future travel lanes. Inside it, homes, schools, parks and churches are modeled in 3D using projected traffic, roadway design, topography and nearby structures. After that:

1. Impact. The model has to show noise reaching 66 dB, or rising 10 dB over existing levels even if it stays under 66. The City's example is a home at 56 dB that would rise to 66. For scale, it says normal conversation is about 60 dB.
2. Feasibility. The proposed measure has to cut noise by at least 5 dB for three or more properties and be buildable.
3. Reasonableness. It has to cut noise by 7 dB for two or more properties, be cost-effective, and have majority support from the residents who would benefit.
4. Agency approval. CDOT and the Federal Highway Administration both have to sign off.
5. Survey. Only the noise-sensitive properties the model says would benefit get a survey, not everyone in the 500-foot zone. Mitigation moves forward only if at least 51 percent of responses support it.

If something does get built, the City mentions landscaped berms or other sound-reducing features as possibilities. Two homes on the same street could end up on opposite sides of a survey line. One gets a vote on a berm. The other, a few lots away, never hears about it.

What the study can't change

Because of a few other decisions, the study works within limits that are already set. The City says the roadway's location and elevation were fixed in earlier phases and that "current and future project phases will not include any modifications to the established roadway profile." Powers is classified as a freeway, and speed limits follow from that classification. The design accounts for current traffic volumes and projected 2050 volumes.

The road's elevation is the part residents have pushed on. In KOAA's January coverage, a Flying Horse resident said noise mitigation was the concern that kept coming up, and that residents along the route hoped the roadway would sit lower than their homes. The City's FAQ says that profile isn't changing, which means whether a given house sits above or below the travel lanes is already decided.

That leaves the study unfinished on top of a fixed design. In late January, FOX21 quoted the City saying results were "not yet finalized." The City's project page still describes the noise analysis as underway, with more details to come. We couldn't find any published results or a wall or berm decision as of October 2026. The minutes of the PPRTA Citizen Advisory Committee, published in its March 2026 meeting packet, record that members Jim Godfrey and Larry Tobias attended the January 28 open house and had "a number of interrogative conversations" with residents worried about noise.

What you can confirm for a specific address today

Since the profile is fixed and the study area has a defined boundary, a fair amount can be checked before the results come out. The City posted the January 28, 2026 open house presentation boards and two exhibit sheets on its project page. The noise analysis white paper and boards from July 2025 are there too. For a home near the corridor, those documents answer a few concrete questions:

• Is the lot within 500 feet of the future travel lanes, the line that decides whether it's modeled at all?
• Is the home above, below or level with the established roadway profile?
• Which bridge or interchange is closest: Ridgeline, Flying Horse Club Drive, the pedestrian bridge to the golf course, or the planned Black Squirrel Creek bridge, which KRDO described as the largest on the extension?
• How long will mainline construction, scheduled for 2027 through 2030, overlap with the years you expect to own the home?

The City also runs a text alert line, text POWERS to 21000, and an email list for closure updates. Public Works handles project questions at 719-377-5166.

There's a funding detail that explains why this is all moving faster than usual. In November 2022, PPRTA voters' A-list prioritized the extension. The Copper Ridge Metropolitan District is paying for the work up front and will be reimbursed with PPRTA funds, and the City says that's why the project is running ahead of its typical schedule. So the noise study and the road are moving forward together, and a buyer who closes this winter could be living with the mainline construction schedule well before the noise question is settled.

FAQ

When will Ridgeline Drive reopen? The City hasn't published a date. It says Ridgeline stays closed between Hawk Stone Drive and Veneto Way for the length of bridge construction at that spot.

Will utilities be shut off during construction? The City says it doesn't expect service interruptions from the utility relocations. If short outages become necessary, residents will get advance notice.

Does the noise study decide whether a wall gets built? No. The study identifies impacts. Any mitigation still has to pass the feasibility and reasonableness tests, get CDOT and FHWA approval, and win at least 51 percent support from the surveyed properties that would benefit.

If you're looking at a Flying Horse home near the Powers corridor, or getting ready to sell one, The Fletcher Team & Associates can go through the City's exhibit sheets with you, see where the address falls relative to the 500-foot study area, and keep up with the construction emails while the noise study is pending.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.