Road Reconfigurations, Roundabouts, and Red Flags: Inside CO Springs’ Safety Action Plan

I’m going to be fully transparent with you. Not a day goes by that I’m not scared to drive on Colorado Springs roadways. It feels like half the drivers out there are on substances. Many others have their noses to their phones, are angry or entitled, or are in too much of a hurry to follow traffic laws.  

Local government has stepped in to save the day! Because they are from the government and are here to help, we are understandably skeptical! I want to feel safe on the roads, just as all our readers do, but I also want to get from place to place efficiently. I expect many drivers can relate. There has to be a balance.

The City of Colorado Springs has developed a Safety Action Plan (SAP). The plan will aim to reduce traffic deaths by 35% over the next 10 years. While we applaud this goal, we believe the plan will lead to a much higher incidence of “survivable” accidents.

Safety Action Plan’s Cost

We filed a Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) request to get the cost of the plan. It was $350,701, paid to Olsson Inc. Of course, taxpayers are always the funding source for these plans… and for their execution. We asked follow-up questions to provide you with more information about which government budgets funded the projects.

The “Safe Streets and Roads for All” grant was awarded to the City of Colorado Springs by the US Department of Transportation in 2023 and provided $280,000 to the Safety Action Plan. According to the city website, the city intended to fund a traffic safety action plan to reduce roadway deaths and serious injuries. The additional $70,701 for the Safety Action Plan came from grant-matching funds from the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority (PPRTA) Roadway Safety program. PPRTA is a collaboration of 6 local area governments that improve and maintain roads and support public transportation. You pay a 1% sales and use tax on everything you buy in El Paso County to fund PPRTA.

Nothing says “we care about your safety” quite like a $350,701 safety plan to tell drivers what they already know: Colorado Springs roadways have issues.

The Safety Action Plan

Public Feedback

The initial public comments on the plan concentrated on the city’s southeast. The plan documents reported that:

The Project Team conducted targeted outreach in the Southeast region of Colorado Springs. Recognizing the historical underrepresentation of that region, the Project Team attended local community events and engaged local businesses. It held conversations with residents to ensure their safety concerns were heard and reflected in the process. They received over 100 comments from 70 individuals.

We saw no evidence of outreach to other areas of the city in the Safety Action Plan. They beefed it up heavily in the southeast to get a measly 100 comments, while ignoring the rest of the city!

Stakeholder groups were comprised of handpicked community groups, government departments, and organizations. They met routinely with Olsson representatives. Those groups provided the remaining feedback on the plan.

Project Lists

We combed through the plan to compile lists by project type. Look through the list and see how your area will be affected. Here are some of the projects.

These will be the Safety Plan’s Road Reconfigurations

• Cheyenne Meadows – SH 115 to Ventucci Boulevard Road reconfiguration
• Murray Boulevard – Fountain Street to Airport Road reconfiguration
• Murray Boulevard – Platte to Chelton Road reconfiguration
• S. Carefree Circle – Murray Boulevard to Powers Parkway Road reconfiguration
• Wahsatch Avenue – Boulder Street to Jackson Street Road reconfiguration
• Cascade Avenue – Jackson Street to Fillmore Street Road reconfiguration
• Cascade Avenue – Colorado Avenue to Fountain Avenue Road reconfiguration
• Maizeland Road – Academy Boulevard to Murray Road reconfiguration
• Astrozon Blvd – Jet Wing Drive to Palmer Park Boulevard Road reconfiguration
• S Corona Avenue – Arvada Street to Cheyenne Road Road reconfiguration
• Boulder Street – Union Boulevard to Weber Street Road reconfiguration
• Lexington Drive – Briargate Parkway to Research Parkway Road reconfiguration
• Maizeland Road – Academy Boulevard to Circle Drive Road reconfiguration
• N Nevada Avenue – Uintah Street to Rock Island Railroad
• Removal of thru Lane- Austin Bluffs and Barnes (Doherty High School)
• Chelton Road- Hancock Expressway to Fountain Blvd (5 lanes to 3 lanes)
• Wahsatch Avenue- Boulder Street to Jackson Street

These will be the Safety Plan’s new Mini Traffic Circles

• El Paso Avenue & S Corona Avenue
• Valley Hi Avenue & Parkhill Drive
• Pikes Peak & 22nd Street
• Pikes Peak & 29th Street
• Capulin Drive & Shasta Drive
• W Woodmen Road & Blodgett Drive
• Montebello Drive & Del Paz Drive
• Quail Lake Road & Access & Crosswalk
• Monica Drive & Moonbeam Drive

These Will Be the Safety Plan’s New Roundabouts

• Lake and Nevada East Ramp (will be a traffic signal or a roundabout)
• Lake and Nevada West
• Wahsatch and Bijou
• N. Nevada Avenue and Fontanero
• Dublin Blvd and Vista Del Tierra

These Will Be the Safety Plan’s New Raised Crosswalks

• Broadmoor Valley Road (at Broadmoor Valley Park)
• Broadmoor Bluffs (at Kirkstone)
• Pikes Peak Avenue (at Buena Vista Montessori School)
• Farnsworth Drive (at Bricker Elementary Trail)
• Springnite Drive (at Turman Elementary School)
• Monica Drive & Foxridge Drive
• Havenwood Drive (at Woodmen Trail Crossing)
• Fenton Road (at Panorama Park)
• Balsam Street & Corinth Drive
• Cowpoke Road & Canary Circle
• Flying W Ranch Road & Champagne Drive
• Glowing Valley Drive & Shimmering Creek Drive
• Manchester Street
• Montebello Drive & Meadowland Boulevard
• Oak Creek Drive & Oak Creek Drive
• Rangewood Drive & Mira Linda Point
• Rockhurst Boulevard & Quadrangle Court
• Stanbridge Court & Collegiate Drive
• Thunder Mountain Avenue & Daydreamer Drive

These Will Be the Safety Plan’s New Protected Bike Lanes

• Pikes Peak Avenue – Corona Street to Nevada Avenue
• Cheyenne Boulevard – Cresta Road to Sumner Street
• Old Broadmoor Road to Southgate Road
• Hancock Expressway – E Fountain Boulevard to S Union Boulevard
• Fountain Boulevard – Hancock Expy to S Circle Drive

These Will Be the Safety Plan’s New Bike Infrastructure

• Union Blvd and S. Circle- Monterey to Fontaine
• Union Blvd and S. Circle- Hancock Expressway to Monterey
• Chelton- Mallard to Hancock
• Galley to Pikes Peak
• Fountain Creek

This Will Be the Safety Plan’s New Reconstructed Roadway

• Platte Avenue- between Wahsatch and Cascade to go to 1 travel lane in each direction

These Will Be the Safety Plan’s New Trail Crossing Improvements

• Templeton Gap & Rock Island Trail
• Fontanero Street & Shooks Run
• Chelton Road & Verde Drive
• Cache La Poudre & Sunny Vista
• Lexington & Woodmen Trail
• Meadowridge Drive & Briargate Trail
• Jet Wing Drive & Sand Creek Trail
• Cordera Crest & Village Cooperative

Did you spot any projects that concern you? There was one concerning project near my neighborhood that didn’t make a bit of sense. The Safety Action Plan called for a raised crosswalk near the intersection of Rangewood Drive and Mira Linda Point. According to the Federal Highway Administration, a raised crosswalk is a ramped speed table, often placed at midblock crossings. The crosswalk is demarcated with paint and/or special paving materials. These crosswalks serve as a traffic-calming measure, allowing pedestrians to cross at grade with the sidewalk.  

Why would the city think it was a good idea to place an enormous, wide “speed bump” on a 35 mph road, only 1 block from Woodmen Road? If a motorcyclist were to hit it at 35 mph, they’d end up flying through the air. Apparently, the city’s solution to this dangerous road is to make it more dangerous in a different way. Since I’m only a “would-be” traffic engineer, I reached out to City of Colorado Springs Traffic Engineering Division Manager Todd Frisbie. Here’s Frisbie’s response to my concern:

“Raised crosswalks are different from speed bumps. Speed bumps are typically used in parking lots. Raised crosswalks function more like speed humps used on roadways. They are designed with a gradual rise (about 3–4 inches over 14–20 feet) to slow vehicles to 20–25 mph safely.

For Rangewood and Mira Linda, the recommendation is tied to the Woodmen Trail crossing located north of the intersection, not the signalized intersection itself. In this case, the project used the nearest intersection name to describe a midblock crossing.

That said, a raised crosswalk may not be the best fit for this location. A better option would be pedestrian-focused treatments like rapid rectangular flashing beacons or a pedestrian-activated signal”.

I told Frisbie that I’m getting the impression the city wants to slow drivers down and that it’s using a variety of infrastructure and sign changes to do so. I asked him how he thought most automobile drivers would receive the plan and whether there was anything else he’d like to add.

Frisbie replied:

“The purpose of the plan is to improve safety for all users on the transportation system. On major arterials (e.g., high-volume streets), recommendations focus on reducing crash frequency through signal modifications, access management, and changes to signing and striping. On lower-volume local and collector streets, which are typically in residential areas, the goal is to improve safety through speed and intersection control management at locations around schools, parks, and trail crossings.”

Our Take

We can get behind the projects located adjacent to schools. Crossing guards do their best to keep kids safe, but given the unpredictability and immaturity of children, we’d like to see school zones become safer.

Overall, Frisbie’s comments about “all users” give me the impression that they want to focus more on bicycles and pedestrians than on automobiles, and that their goal will be to make traffic move much more slowly and less efficiently throughout the city. Plain and simple, the Safety Action Plan is all about traffic-calming. Will this frustrate drivers who are already dealing with poorly timed traffic signals, packed roadways, dodging potholes, and moving through traffic at a crawl during rush hour? We expect tempers to rise once all these changes get underway.

Reach out to your city council person and the mayor if you have any comments or concerns about the Safety Action Plan.

Mayor Yemi Mobolade         yemi.mobolade@coloradosprings.gov

Lynette Crow-Iverson          Lynette.Crow-Iverson@coloradosprings.gov

Dave Donelson                      Dave.Donelson@coloradosprings.gov

Kimberly Gold                       Kimberly.Gold@coloradosprings.gov

Nancy Henjum                       Nancy.Henjum@coloradosprings.gov

David Leinweber                   David.Leinweber@coloradosprings.gov

Roland Rainey                       Roland.RaineyJr@coloradosprings.gov

Brian Risley                            brian.risley@coloradosprings.gov

Brandy Williams                    Brandy.Williams@coloradosprings.gov