Prairie Song

Prairie Song is a 600-acre residential planned development in Windsor, Colorado. It will include +/-2,300 dwelling units and a 500-student high school. The development is located two miles from the Poudre River and is surrounded by irrigation ditches and canals, which historically have caused improper draining and oversaturation. The fluctuating groundwater differed as much as 12 feet from the north and south end of the site, with the south end being dominated by an aquifer. To avoid flooding from the fluctuating groundwater, Galloway’s water resources and civil engineering teams designed a new underdrain system that runs under all 600 acres.

The preliminary design included the backbone infrastructure for storm sanitary and water regional masterplan improvements, and water was designed on which each subsequent filing would be based. The design of this site required off-site infrastructure design, including an underdrain outfall connection, waterline connection, and master sanitary sewer connection.

Filing 1 includes 214 single-family lots. The water storm and sanitary design followed the background infrastructure’s intentions. It included the design of a regional swale needed for the town’s master plan and a regional detention pond for the site with an associated irrigation pond to serve the development’s landscaping needs. In addition, the underdrain system was designed with the addition of the underdrain and irrigation pump house. Filing 2 includes 319 single-family lots. The design of the water storm and sanitary followed the intentions of the background infrastructure and included the design of a regional swale needed for the town’s master plan and an extension of the underdrain system from Filing 1.

This project also required a traffic impact study (TIS) to support the master plan and multiple filings for each development phase, compliant with the City of Windsor and the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT). Multiple meetings were held with the town, CDOT, third-party reviewers, and neighbors to discuss the scope of the TIS, acceleration/deceleration lanes, access alternatives, and future roadway improvements.

In addition, the survey team provided construction staking to collect and analyze data for the development’s design. This project is ongoing, and the team maintains a strong relationship with all regional shareholders.