A Black Forest lot on Shoup Road or Hodgen Road comes with two edges. One is the pavement you can see from the driveway. The other is a line on a county planning map, and on these two roads that map reaches out to 2065. El Paso County's Land Development Code measures setbacks from the planned line rather than the pavement. The code says that "all setbacks shall be measured from the proposed right-of-way line of roadways as depicted within the MTCP," meaning the county's Major Transportation Corridors Plan.
The plan gives no year for widening either road, and neither road has the money to do it. Even so, the county decides lot by lot whether the 2045 width or the wider 2065 width applies, and that answer can follow a parcel through permitting long before a crew shows up. For buyers comparing acreage in Black Forest, this is a question to ask about frontage lots before closing, while there is still time to ask it.
Where the setback line starts
You can read the rule in the county's own Land Development Code text. In full, it says setbacks are measured from the MTCP's proposed right-of-way line "in accordance with BoCC policy and the right-of-way standards established by the ECM." The same code requires new subdivisions along MTCP roads to dedicate right-of-way. With the Board's approval, a subdivision can record a "future ROW" disclosure on its plat instead. According to the Monument Independent, when a subdivision borders an existing road, the owner's "ordinary obligation" is half of the extra width.
The plan also states that right-of-way preservation "shall be based on the 2065 Functional Classification." So for any given road, the important question is what class it will be in 2065, not what it looks like today.
Why 2065 matters more than 2045 on Hodgen and Shoup
In the 2045 plan, Hodgen and Shoup are both rural minor arterials. On the 2065 map, both become rural principal arterials. The plan's design table spells out what each class means on the ground:
| Rural road class | Right-of-way width | Through lanes | Driveway access permitted, per the design table |
|---|---|---|---|
| Principal arterial, 4 lane | 180 feet | 4 | No |
| Minor arterial | 100 feet | 2 | No |
| Major collector | 90 feet | 2 | No |
| Minor collector | 80 feet | 2 | Yes |
| Local | 70 feet | 2 | Yes |
The Monument Independent did the math for a frontage lot. If setbacks along Hodgen or Shoup are measured from the 2065 line, that line sits about 90 feet from the road's centerline. Under the 2045 class it would sit about 50 feet out. That's roughly 40 more feet of the lot.
The county told the Independent it "cannot provide a blanket determination on whether the 100 foot or 180 would apply." Width and setback get decided property by property, during review of "the individual development application or building permit request." In practice, a Shoup Road owner planning a barn, a shop or an addition finds out which line applies when the permit is reviewed, not when they buy.
The plan exists mainly to set a fee
The wider line is a corridor reservation, and nothing in the plan schedules or funds a widening to fill it.
The MTCP was adopted July 18, 2024. It lists $2.45 billion of road work through 2045, and about $644 million of that, spread across 27 projects, sits on Tri-Lakes and Black Forest roads. None of its tables assigns a year, phase or priority to any project. The Independent describes the plan's main job as setting the road impact fee charged on new construction. Since Jan. 1, 2025, that fee has been $4,101 per single-family house, up from $3,830.
Most actual road money comes from the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority, a regional sales tax, and its rule is blunt. It "shall not expend roadway capital improvements on any 'B' projects until the listed 'A' projects have been funded." The county's fee study adds that "no B-list projects have been funded in recent years." Most of the large Black Forest projects are on that B list:
- Shoup Road from CO 83 to Vollmer Road, rural upgrade, $72 million
- Burgess Road from Milam Road to Meridian Road, rural upgrade, $71 million
- Black Forest Road from Old Ranch Road to Shoup Road, widen to four lanes, $14.3 million
- Hodgen Road from Black Forest Road to Bar X Road and from Goshawk Road to Winsome Way, rural upgrades, $26.6 million
- Walker Road from Steppler Road to Black Forest Road, rural upgrade, $25 million
Black Forest Road from Shoup to Hodgen, a $28.6 million rural upgrade, isn't on either sales-tax list. The setback line on these roads, then, is tied to a plan whose main financial job is pricing a fee.
What does have a date
The work that does have dates is mostly at intersections, and none of it widens the roads through the trees:
- Baptist, Hodgen and Roller Coaster roads. The county's capital projects page shows property acquisition from October 2026 through July 2027, construction in the third quarter of 2027, and no road closure.
- Vollmer at Burgess and Vollmer at Shoup. The county page lists Vollmer/Burgess in design since March 2026 and Vollmer/Shoup in preliminary design, both with construction marked TBD. The Monument Independent reported that a county presentation to the Northern El Paso County Coalition of Community Organizations in September put the two roundabouts in 2027 and 2028, and that the proposed 2027 county budget lists $2.7 million for them. Commissioners are scheduled to adopt that budget Dec. 8.
- The Stapleton Drive and Briargate Parkway link from Black Forest Road to Vollmer Road. This one is on the A list and in design, with construction set for 2028 to 2029.
- Hodgen Road from Winsome Way to Meridian Road. Also on the A list, but it's listed as "Design 2030; build TBD."
Even fully built, the plan leaves these roads congested
The county's own traffic forecasts explain why the 2065 lines are on the map at all. The plan's fee study projects Hodgen Road between Black Forest Road and Bar X at about 3,500 vehicles a day in 2020 and about 12,100 in 2045. Black Forest Road south of Shoup goes from about 4,900 to more than 19,000.
The county's model also assumed every 2045 project was built. Even then, Shoup Road from CO 83 to Black Forest Road would carry 1.1 to 1.9 times its capacity, and Hodgen from Black Forest Road to Vollmer would carry 1.0 to 1.2 times. The fee study puts Shoup at 13,682 vehicles a day in 2045, on a two-lane road with a capacity of 14,000. The plan pushed four lanes on Hodgen and Shoup out to the 2065 map, explaining that some widenings "were determined to not be needed by 2045."
The result is two-lane roads expected to run at or over capacity, with a much wider line held in reserve along the lots that front them.
The forest's long argument for two lanes
Black Forest has been arguing about roads like these for decades. The Black Forest Land Use Committee still holds that roads in the forest should stay at two lanes with 70 feet of right-of-way. The plan's standard is 100 feet for a minor arterial. Terry Stokka, who answered for the committee, told the Monument Independent that he once counted 96 driveways and about seven side streets on Black Forest Road between the tree line at the Palmer Divide and the one at Old Ranch Road. The committee would rather see traffic routed around the forest:
"We feel that if the roads surrounding the Black Forest were improved or built, there would not be a need to widen roads within the forest."
The crossroads at Shoup Road and Black Forest Road shows what a wider line would run into. The Black Forest School is a one-room log schoolhouse that volunteers built in 1920 and 1921. When it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992, it sat about 30 feet from the pavement. The Black Forest Community Church at the same intersection has been on the State Register since 2016. The 2065 map makes Shoup a four-lane principal arterial through that intersection. The plan also notes that its preservation map "does not imply that all these facilities will be improved to the level indicated." Victoria Chavez, the Public Works planner who led the plan, put it more plainly at a 2024 hearing, according to the Monument Independent: "If we show a new road going through your house, we're not really going to go through your house. It's a general alignment."
The rewrite open for comment through Dec. 11
The setback rule lives in the Land Development Code, and the county is rewriting it. The consolidated draft of Modules 1 and 2 includes Chapter 12, which covers transportation and infrastructure standards, and Chapter 18, which covers subdivision design and land dedication. The county is accepting comments until 5 p.m. on Dec. 11, 2026. In an October project update, the county's consultant said public hearings before the Planning Commission and the Board of County Commissioners will come in a later phase. The road plan itself is due for revision around 2029 or 2030.
FAQ
Does the 2065 map mean the county will widen Shoup or Hodgen?
The map exists to preserve a corridor. It isn't a construction schedule. The plan says the map "does not imply that all these facilities will be improved to the level indicated," and neither road has a widening on a funded list.
Which roads in Black Forest have work with actual dates?
The intersections: Baptist, Hodgen and Roller Coaster, with construction in the third quarter of 2027, and the two Vollmer Road roundabouts. The Stapleton to Briargate link along the forest's south side is also in design.
Who can say which right-of-way line applies to a specific parcel?
The county's Planning and Community Development Department. The county has said it decides this lot by lot, during review of a development application or building permit.
This post is general information about county planning documents. It isn't legal, survey or financial advice, so confirm how any setback or right-of-way rule applies to a particular property with the county and the right professional.
If you're weighing a Black Forest parcel on Shoup, Hodgen, Black Forest Road or Vollmer, The Galloway Group can build those county questions into your timeline so you have the answers before your contingency deadlines run out. Get Your Free Home Roadmap and we'll lay out the steps for your lot.
