Three months ago, Ray Wells’ toll road company, now known as the Prairie Falcon Parkway Express, but more widely known as the “Super Slab,” sent letters to property owners notifying them of his intent to pursue his 20-year dream of building a toll road in eastern El Paso County.But his dream has been a nightmare for others.Two property owners who received letters talked about living with the idea of the “Super Slab.”Dan Combs lives on Sweet Road between Ellicott Highway and Calhan Highway. He said the Super Slab hasn’t bothered him at this point. “They haven’t really done anything yet. I don’t think they’ll ever get it done, there is so much opposition to it,” Combs said. “I’ve lived in Colorado Springs since 1976. I’ve lived out here nine or 10 years, and I’m going to die right here.”To me, CDOT (the Colorado Department of Transportation) would almost commit political suicide siding with Prairie Falcon because CDOT has already published several times that toll roads don’t pay, that they are never self supporting.”Combs said the toll road plans have not “directly” affected him thus far. “When it does, I push real hard. I do my share,” he said “I go to a lot of the meetings, and I contribute, like a lot of the homeowners out here have. … I think they’re in for a rough road, and I don’t think they can ever get it done.”Don Richardson, who lives at McClelland Road and Highway 24, cited uncertainty as his biggest concern. “Right now, if I wanted to sell my place, I probably couldn’t do it for all the tea in China,” Richardson said. “It’s thrown a cloud over the whole area.”He said he and three neighbors are considering combining their properties into one and placing it on the market for $6 million. If it sells, Richardson said they’re all “better off.””We’re right on the major intersection,” he added. “That’s going to be prime commercial property. We’re sure mulling it around. I think we’re going to do it, just for grins, to see what happens.” If it sells, Richardson said they’re all “better off.”Richardson and his family moved to the area in 1985. “It was just an old ramshackle house that a couple had started building and never ever finished,” he said. “We went in and rebuilt the whole dang thing and got it to where it’s really livable. I’ve got a fireplace that I built … I hauled all the rocks out of the mountains. It’s quite a house, and it’s hard to see something like this happen. It makes you want to go in and fort yourself up and say if you’re going to take my place, somebody is going to get hurt.”He said he wrote a letter to the Prairie Falcon Parkway Express Company, telling them he was “prepared to go to war.” He didn’t receive a response. Contrary to the information advertised by the toll road company, Richardson said he doesn’t know people who want to sell or are willing to sell.The issue of fair market value has added fuel to the fire.”That house that I’ve got, you couldn’t go anywhere else and build that house for under $500, 000,” Richardson said. It’s kind of sad to see the growth that is going on out there. It like I told my wife … Colorado Springs can’t go north, it can’t go south, so now they’re all coming east. Growth is coming out our way and they’ve been trying to push power lines and new roads. We’re being domesticated here.”I’ve heard a lot of people say this road will never happen. This guy is going through a lot of trouble for it not to happen. I think it’s just basically a big land grab. Years ago, I had heard about this super toll road they were going to try pushing through and it was coming down Elbert Highway, and never even thought anything about it. And then the next thing you know, it’s in our back yard.”
