Douglas County begins Hilltop Road widening project near Legend High School

Drivers along Hilltop Road in Parker are moving through an active construction zone between Legend High School and Crestview Drive/Village Road as Douglas County widens the corridor from two lanes to four. The work is already affecting school drop-offs, commute times, turn access and safety near the campus, and county officials now say the first phase should be finished in September 2026.

Douglas County commissioners approved a $14.4 million construction contract for the first phase on April 8, 2025, and work began April 16, 2025. The project is part of a larger effort that started in 2020, when county officials determined the existing roadway could no longer handle the traffic volume on that stretch of Parker’s southeast side. County documents describe the finished roadway as a 20-year design-life investment, a sign that officials are trying to meet long-term growth with a full rebuild rather than a short-term repair.

The phase now under construction covers Hilltop Road from Legend High School to the Crestview Drive and Village Road intersection. Plans call for a concrete curb and gutter system, a median, a new storm sewer system and water-quality control ponds. By March 9, 2026, crews had begun paving operations, showing the job has moved well beyond early utility and grading work and into the part of the project that will most directly affect daily travel through the area.

County officials have said this is the first of three planned projects over the next few years to reconstruct and widen the Hilltop Road and Singing Hills Road corridors. The work was one of the major transportation investments in Douglas County’s 2025 budget, which set aside $73.6 million for new road construction county-wide, including Hilltop Road in Parker. For families headed to Legend High School, the practical outcome is a wider corridor meant to carry school traffic more safely and reduce the pinch points that come with a two-lane road serving a growing part of the county.

Douglas County Public Works has kept the project open to public questions, with a project manager hotline at 719-359-5355 and email at hilltoproadproject@gmail.com. With construction now moving toward its final phases, the next milestone Parker drivers are watching is whether the county can keep the September 2026 completion target on schedule.