I-25 rest areas needed some improvements

Traveling north on I-25 there is a rest area before Upper Lake Gulch Road that has been closed for months. What are they doing up there? The rest area on the southbound side of I-25 was also closed at the same time and has since reopened. Why hasn’t the northbound side reopened?
- Phyllis Miller

ANSWER: Renovation work was done on both rest areas, including improvements to lighting and the sewer systems. Bob Wilson of Colorado Department of Transportation said that as the lights were installed at the northbound site the workers damaged the sewer system and it can’t be repaired until the ground thaws in the heavily wooded area, probably in the spring. Besides making the rest area nicer for visitors, improved lighting and other upgrades could help cut reported criminal and drug activity in the northbound rest area, officials said.

Work on the southbound area also involved extra lighting and pruning of the heavy vegetation “because of unusual activity not becoming of a rest area,” Wilson said, referring to reports of drug activity and sex. “The southbound rest area was being used for activities other than stopping to use the restroom or taking a nap."