Cheyenne Mountain Highway
| Cheyenne Mountain Highway | |
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| Length: | 7.5 mi (12.1 km) |
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Colorado State Highways
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 Early view of Cheyenne Mountain Highway, Pikes Peak Library District |
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Cheyenne Mountain Highway toll house (estimate by 1930), Denver Public Library |
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View of Colorado Springs from Cheyenne Mountain Highway (estimate by 1928), Denver Public Library |
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Aerial views of Cheyenne Mountain and Cheyenne Mountain Highway
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The Cheyenne Mountain Highway, also called Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Road, is a road in Colorado Springs, Colorado that begins at the intersection of Penrose Boulevard, Old Stage Road, and West Cheyenne Mountain Boulevard. It is a paved road to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun. Thereafter, it is an unpaved private road to the summit, known as The Horns.
Cheyenne Mountain has three peaks. The southern peak is Cheyenne Mountain's summit at 9,200 feet (2,800 m) in elevation, the antenna farm sits on the middle peak, and the northern peak is called The Horns. Cheyenne Mountain Highway ends at The Horns.
The road is paved to the Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun, thereafter it is a 4 miles (6.4 km) unpaved road to the summit where The Broadmoor's Cloud Camp is located. This was formerly the site of the Cheyenne Mountain Lodge. There are gates that control the access to the road: two and after the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and a third after the Will Rogers Shrine. The Broadmoor has maintained the road for the transport of guests to Cloud Camp. A portion of the road is named Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Road. The Cheyenne Mountain Highway was originally built for transportation to properties built by Penrose, which came to include the zoo, shrine, and top of the mountain.
After building The Broadmoor, Spencer Penrose began to develop Cheyenne Mountain property that he purchased on the northern peak in 1915. He built the 7.5 miles (12.1 km) Cheyenne Mountain Highway in 1925. Initially called the Broadmoor-Cheyenne Mountain Highway, it began one mile south of The Broadmoor at the Old Stage Road and ascended to the summit with 32 switchback turns up the mountain, gaining almost 3,000 feet (910 m) in altitude with a maximum 10% grade. It afforded views of Colorado Springs and Pikes Peak.
Penrose hired Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers to build the unpaved decomposed gravel toll road. In the depressed economy, this provided work for individuals in need of jobs and helped him to manage construction costs. The cost of the construction was $350,000 (equivalent to $4,779,791 in 2016). In 1926, the Cheyenne Mountain Lodge opened at the top of Cheyenne Mountain. Visitors could make the trip up the highway to the lodge on the backs of elephants, such as an elephant given to Penrose by an Indian rajah.
The toll gate was situated on the highway just before the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (1926) and Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun (1937) is located on the northern promontory of the mountain. The Broadmoor also operated a ski area from 1959-1991 on Cheyenne Mountain, near the Broadmoor Shooting Range. The highway was rebuilt, widened, received several scenic turnouts, and paved with asphaltic concrete following a flood that washed out the road in July 1965. It reopened in April 1966.
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Wikipedia