COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — Big changes are happening on West Colorado Avenue from downtown Colorado Springs to 30th Street.
"Colorado Avenue is a primary arterial for the west side of Colorado Springs between Manitou Springs, Old Colorado City, and into downtown and serves a large population," said Ryan Phipps, Colorado Springs capital improvements manager.
It is a major corridor, and for the next year city planners are conducting what they call a demonstration of plans for safety improvements.
The number of lanes goes from two travel lanes in each direction down to one, with a center lane for turns. In the business district of Old Colorado City, the change also makes room for more parking.
Data gathered from crashes is the number one driver for the change.
"That center turn lane will allow for turning movements to happen outside of the primary movement of traffic. There's a lot of rear end collisions. There's some T-bone collisions, and it's because of that four lane configuration that it's a typical accident issue," said Phipps.
Not everyone is fully on board with every aspect of the plan. Nicole Odell rides her bike frequently and lobbies for Bike Colorado Springs. She supports the safety improvements but questions the treatment of cyclists in other parts of the plan.
"We want people to be able to move around safely," said Odell. "When we're talking about connectivity, it really is broken. So if I have a destination on Colorado Avenue, the preferred route from the plan is that I'm going to get off of Colorado, go over either one block either direction, and then have to come back to Colorado."
Crossing the Colorado Avenue bridge from downtown, there is a bike lane. Once over the bridge, the bike lane goes away and the plan takes cyclists a block north to a designated bike boulevard on Pikes Peak Avenue.
"If you ride on Pikes Peak right now it's pothole ridden and you have stop signs every block," said Odell.
She also points out all the PikeRide bike share stops along Colorado Avenue, and just west of the Old Colorado City library branch, cyclists face a significant challenge.
"There's a big hill," said Odell.
City planners believe the plan does consider cyclists with a viable option.
"The idea is that Pikes Peak is a more comfortable, more calm traffic environment for cyclists to use in both directions as opposed to Colorado Avenue," said Phipps.
They point out there has to be some give and take because preserving the historic integrity of Old Colorado City also limits the footprint for changes.
"How do we work with that character to make those strategic improvements but also make it look like it's always been there," said Phipps.
The city welcomes questions and input. To fill out the survey, visit the City of Colorado Springs website.
"The testing phase really helps to make sure that we fine tune what's going to make the most sense in the long run when we do the physical improvements," said Phipps.
Whether cyclists or anyone with ideas, the time to share them is during the year-long demonstration phase, which starts now.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
___
School's Out. Here's Where Those Mobile Speed Cameras Are Going Now
Colorado Springs' new mobile speed cameras have been busy, issuing over 10,000 tickets since January, with more than half of those in school zones. Now that school is out, police say you can expect to see the cameras near city parks and in neighborhoods.
____
Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.
