By Steve Pate
A crew of senior cadet engineering students from the U.S Air Force Academy (USAFA) have been working during their 2023-24 final year at the academy to design and build a bridge across Monument Creek to connect a newly improved section of the Creekside Trail to the Elephant Rock property area (not the Elephant Rock near Ben Lomand).
During their final semester, the cadets made multiple trips to the site for measurements and design and prepared proposals to the Palmer Lake Parks and Trails commission (PLP&T) who selected the proposal they believed would best meet the needs of the community and satisfy Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the Pikes Peak Regional Building Department.
The bridge links a trail from the Palmer Lake Glen area to and through the Elephant Rock property west of Highway 105 to allow residents and visitors to hike and bike from Palmer Lake through the scenic area.
The senior cadets, led by retired U.S. Army Col. Dr. Brad Wambeke, professor of Engineering at the USAFA, designed the bridge using logs from the Upper Palmer Lake Reservoir left from wildfire mitigation work by the USFS last year. The logs were hauled from the upper reservoir by the Palmer Lake Fire Department and milled, pre-drilled and coated at the USAFA before being used at the construction site.
Only the cost of materials, about $15,000 of a $17,000 budgeted by the PLP&T, was paid for from funds generated by the parking kiosk at the Reservoirs Trailhead. All the design and construction work was done as a learning experience for the senior cadets as their capstone project before graduation and moving on to their initial assignments in the U.S. Air Force.
The project involved a great deal of coordination between volunteers on the PLP&T, including Project Lead Gene Kalesti, Commissioners Kevin Magner and Reid Wiecks and Professor Wambeke.
A cadet team returned to the construction site April 19 to put finishing touches on their work. A dedication ceremony will be held on May 6 at 10 a.m.
The USAFA will build two additional bridges along the trail system to improve access by bikes as well as hikers as an educational project for senior cadet engineering students over the coming year or two.
Steve Pate can be contacted at stevepate@ocn.me.
Other On the Trial columns
- On the Trail (in Memory of Tim Watkins) – Investigation of Tim Watkins’ murder revitalized (10/5/2024)
- On the Trail (in memory of Tim Watkins) – Prescribed burn promotes forest health (7/6/2024)
- On the Trail (in memory of Tim Watkins) – Palmer Lake bridge dedication ceremony (6/1/2024)
- On the Trail (in memory of Tim Watkins) – Mount Herman “Leap” (4/6/2024)
- On the Trail (in memory of Tim Watkins) – Palmer Lake Reservoir hike (3/2/2024)
- On the Trail (in memory of Tim Watkins) – Black Forest Trails Association (12/2/2023)
- Mount Herman fire averted (11/4/2023)
- Letters to Our Community – Protesting no parking signs at Pike National Forest (11/4/2023)