COLORADO SPRINGS – Justin Eyster drives ten miles up Academy Boulevard every day to get to work.
He knows as well as anyone how difficult a drive it can be.
“People that are just trying to get just a couple cars ahead, just so they can be a little farther ahead toward their destination, that’s kind of annoying,” Eyster said.
Even Wednesday, he told News 5 he was cut off on his way in and that aggressive drivers dominate the Academy corridor.
“I notice that a lot of them don’t know how to use turn signals, and a lot of them don’t pay attention to the speed limit,” Eyster said.
But the speed limit, from Pikes Peak Avenue to Milton Proby Parkway, is about to change from 50 mph to 45. The city, in partnership with the Colorado Springs Police Department, is reducing the speed limits on four roads, including Academy, in an effort to make the roads safer.
The other locations include:
- Centennial Boulevard, north of Garden of the Gods Road, will be reduced to 35 mph.
- On Flying W Ranch Road, from Centennial Boulevard to 30th Street, it will soon be 30 mph.
- The speed limit will change to 35 mph on 24th Street, between Lower Gold Camp Road and U.S. Highway 24 West.
City staff will change the speed limit on Academy some time Thursday, while the other changes will happen before the end of the month.
It’s a move Eyster supports, but is skeptical of.
“No matter what the speed limit is, they’ll always go a little bit faster, especially in areas where they think law enforcement is not at,” Eyster said.
The change comes during a record-breaking year for traffic deaths, including an accident Monday at the intersection of Academy and Astrozon, leaving a man dead after he was hit by a car.
For people like Jay Michael Maestas, who walks to work along Academy every day, a drop in the speed limit is a welcome sight.
“If you’re trying to cross the street sometimes here, they don’t even look. The people that are driving don’t even look,” Maestas said.
“Public safety’s important, and if we all don’t take our part in to do it, somebody else has to step in to do it,” Eyster said.
