COLORADO SPRINGS – Major changes are coming to the Ivywild neighborhood.
Next month the city will start a construction project to put in a roundabout with the goal of improving safety and traffic flow.
The roundabout will be constructed at the five point intersection of South Tejon Street, Cascade Avenue, Ramona Avenue, and Cheyenne Boulevard. This has been in the works for awhile, but some businesses and neighbors have concerns.
Julie Nedrow said, “There’s a lot of hesitation in the neighborhood.”
Neighbors in Ivywild are feeling nervous about a roundabout going in near their homes and Nedrow, president of the Ivywild Improvement Society, is one of them.
“A big concern is just having people be able to access our neighborhood, but also exit our neighborhood.”
Especially since several other construction projects will be happening in the area over the next year and a half.
“It seems like everything is happening at one time.”
The city’s mentality, according to City Traffic Engineer Todd Frisbie, is “let’s get the projects done as quickly as we can and have a little short-term pain for a longer-term gain.”
As News 5 learned, Ivywild is quickly becoming an up and coming neighborhood.
Frisbie said, “These improvements are to address the additional traffic and the additional development that has gone in.”
However, some businesses aren’t happy about this change. U-Haul wasn’t available to speak on camera, but a worker shared that a good chunk of the parking lot will be lost to the roundabout.
People like Birgitta Depree of the Millibo Theatre are also nervous about what’s to come.
Depree said, “The traffic flow for the next three months is going to be, I think, unpredictable.”
Even so, she thinks the roundabout is a good idea.
“I hope it makes getting here easier.”
As for Nedrow, she said, “We need to have really good communication with the city in terms of when things are happening so we can really talk to our neighbors and let them know what’s going on.”
The roundabout project will start next month with the goal of having it done by early 2020.
For more information as well as other projects nearby CLICK HERE.
