Welcome to Colorado Springs!
The City of Colorado Springs is the second most populous city (after Denver) in the State of Colorado and the 48th most populous
city in the United States. The city is the county seat of El Paso County, with a small portion of the city lying in Teller County.
Colorado Springs is located just east of the geographic center of the state and 63 miles (101 kilometers) south of Denver, the state's capital
city. At 6,035 feet (1839 meters) Colorado Springs sits over one mile above sea level, though some areas of the city are significantly higher.
The city is situated near the base of one of the most famous American mountains, Pikes Peak, at the eastern edge of the Southern Rocky
Mountains.
The United States Census Bureau estimates that in 2005 the population of the City of Colorado Springs was 369,815 (48th most populous U.S. city),
the population of the Colorado Springs Metropolitan Statistical Area was 587,500 (84th most populous MSA), and the population of the Front Range
Urban Corridor was 4,013,055.
Today, Colorado Springs has many features of a modern urban area, such as parks, bike trails, urban open-area spaces, business and
commerce, theatres and other entertainment. It was first established as a posh resort community, though the older mining supply center of
Colorado City (now Old Colorado City) was merged later, and the tourist industry has remained strong and offers many activities and attractions.
In July 2006, Money magazine ranked Colorado Springs the best place to live in the big city category, which includes cities with 300,000 or more
people.
Colorado Springs is not exempt from the problems that typically plague cities that experience tremendous growth: overcrowded roads and highways,
crime, sprawl, and government budget issues. Many of the problems are indirectly or directly caused by the city's difficulty in coping with the
large population growth experienced in the last 20 years and the annexing of the Banning Lewis Ranch area for 175,000 future residents. In 2004,
the voters of Colorado Springs and El Paso County established the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority and adopted a 1% sales tax dedicated
to improving the region's transportation infrastructure. Together with state funding for the Colorado Springs Metro Interstate Expansion
(COSMIX)(2007 completion) and the I-25 interchange with Highway 16 (2008 completion), significant progress has been made since 2003 in addressing
the transportation needs of the area.
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