The Pikes Peak Highway is a

toll road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or ''Toll (fee), toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically ...

that runs from Cascade, Colorado to the summit of

Pikes Peak Pikes Peak is the highest summit of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, in North America. The ultra-prominent fourteener is located in Pike National Forest, west of downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado. The town of Manitou S ...

in El Paso County, at an altitude of . It is at least partially open year-round, up to the altitude where

snow removal Snow removal or snow clearing is the job of removing snow after a snowfall to make travel easier and safer. This is done by both individual households and by governments and institutions. De-icing and anti-icing De-icing is defined as removal ...

becomes excessively difficult. The rate structure varies depending on time of year and ranges from $10 per adult and $5 per child throughout winter up to $50 per carload (5 passengers or fewer) with discounts on additional passengers.

Highway

The Pikes Peak Highway was constructed in 1915 and financed by

Spencer Penrose Spencer Penrose (November 2, 1865 - December 7, 1939) was an American entrepreneur and philanthropist. He made his fortune from mining, ore processing, and real estate speculation in Colorado and other parts of the West. He founded the Utah Copper ...

at a cost of $500,000. An earlier road up the mountain, the Pike's Peak Carriage Road, dates back to 1888. Thousands of tourists traveled along the Pikes Peak Carriage Road up to

's summit. It was opened by the Cascade Town Company in 1888 and closed in 1902.

Maintenance

It was maintained by Colorado DOT as Colorado State Highway 250 from 1939 until 1947. Today, the road is maintained by the city of

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

Races

The highway has been home to an annual automobile and motorcycle race called the

Pikes Peak International Hillclimb The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), also known as The Race to the Clouds, is an annual automobile hillclimb to the summit of Pikes Peak in Colorado, USA. The track measures and has over 156 turns, climbing from the sta ...

since 1916. Another race is the Pikes Peak Cycling Hill Climb (formerly Assault on the Peak), first held in 2010. The 2016 edition was also the first edition of the

USA Cycling USA Cycling or USAC, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is the national governing body for bicycle racing in the United States. It covers the disciplines of road, track, mountain bike, cyclo-cross, and BMX across all ages and ability level ...

Hill Climb National Championship.

Environmental damage claim

Litigation was pursued by the Sierra Club in 1998-1999, on grounds of

environmental damage Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as quality of air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems; habitat destruction; the extinction of wildlife; and pollution. It is defin ...

from the gravel portion of the road. The environmental damage was caused primarily by the of gravel that washed away annually, the same amount that needed to be hauled up the mountain each year in order to maintain the road surface. Environmental damage included alpine ponds and wetlands becoming filled with gravel, and layers of gravel averaging deep covering the forest floor below. Pursuant to the settlement agreed by the Sierra Club and the City of Colorado Springs, the unpaved portion of the ''Pikes Peak Highway'' became a hard-surface road, despite concerns that such a project would radically change the nature of the annual automobile and motorcycle race. The paving project was completed on October 1, 2011. Pike's Peak Hill Climb champion

Rod Millen Rodney K. "Rod" Millen (born 22 March 1951) is a New Zealand racing driver, vehicle designer, and business owner. He has competed in numerous genres of motorsports, including rally racing, off-road racing, hillclimbing, drifting, and super touri ...

warned that paving the road would put an end to the race. However, the race went ahead normally in 2012 and has continued ever since.

References

External links