If you use highway 83 heading to and from Denver, there is a new stop light at the El Paso-Douglas County line to try and improve traffic safety. The Colorado Department of Transportation installed the light as traffic volume increases with the ongoing construction along I-25 in "The Gap." More and more drivers are opting to take the Highway 83 alternative to try and make up some time and prevent getting caught up in the stop and go traffic through "The Gap" between Monument and Castle Rock.
But as more and more drivers choose that alternative, there is a growing concern about traffic safety. News5 spoke with drivers on Thursday who say there have been too many near misses in recent weeks, and something needed to be done. One motorcycle rider told us stop signs just don't do the trick. "They don't see us coming up at the bottom of the hill, and we come over and they'll start going and we have to lock our brakes up, and there's been a couple of times we've almost laid our bikes down."
CDOT says that installing the new stoplight has been a priority and they have taken steps to put it in more quickly. In fact, they will continue to monitor traffic flow and the traffic accident reports moving forward and tell us that this may become a permanent light once the I-25 road construction is complete in a couple of years.
