Colorado Springs traffic roundup: Construction and route changes affecting post-holiday travelers
This weekend should see busy roads around Colorado Springs during post-holiday travel.
Here are the major transportation and construction updates that could impact travelers in the upcoming week.
Interstate 25
Southbound I-25 will be closed at Mesa Ridge Parkway starting Dec. 4 to complete work on a safety and efficiency improvement project, per the Colorado Department of Transportation.
Crews will be repairing bridge joints and replacing concrete pavement panels.
The closure is expected to last from 9 a.m. Dec. 4 to 5 a.m. on Dec. 5.
A detour will be in place from Mesa Ridge Parkway onto the CanAm Highway, then south onto Santa Fe Avenue to reenter I-25.
A map showing the planned closure of southbound Interstate 25, expected to last from 9 a.m. on Dec. 4 till 5 a.m. on Dec. 5. A detour will be in place from Mesa Ridge Parkway onto U.S. 85, then south onto Santa Fe Avenue to reenter I-25.
Bustang Bus
Starting Saturday, Nov. 30, Bustang will be terminating its stop at the Tejon Park-n-Ride in South Colorado Springs.
Beginning the next day, the southern terminus for Bustang service from Denver and the northern terminus for service from Pueblo will be at relocated to the Colorado Springs Downtown Terminal at 127 E. Kiowa St.
Riders can also go to an alternate stop at the Woodmen Park-n-Ride at the southwest corner of I-25 and Woodmen Road Interchange.
CDOT said the change would address declining ridership and safety concerns at the Tejon location.
South Academy
Northbound South Academy will be completely closed the night of Dec. 7 between U.S. Highway 85/87 and Milton Proby Parkway for a traffic shift to a new lane alignment.
The closure is expected to begin at 7 p.m. and last until 4:30 a.m.
Traffic will detour onto U.S. 85/87. More details on the detour route can be found on the CDOT website.
Additionally on South Academy Boulevard, drivers should be aware of a planned closure of the northbound I-25 on-ramp from eastbound Academy for the installation of drainage pipes.
The closure will be from Friday, Dec. 6 at 7 p.m. until Saturday, Dec. 7 at 1 p.m.
Traffic will reroute by continuing east at exiting at U.S. 85/87, then turn around and travel west on South Academy Boulevard to enter I-25.
Vickers Lane
The city of Colorado Springs announced this week plans to reconfigure Vickers Drive between Academy and Union Boulevard starting Dec. 2. The formerly four-lane road will be reduced to 2 lanes with a widened center turn lane and bike lanes separated from the roadway with buffers.
City engineer Todd Frisbie said the change would improve safety for a section of road where there have been 28 broadside crashes as well as three bicycle crashes recorded in the last decade.
The city said that a broadside, also known as a T-bone crash, can often be the most dangerous type of traffic accident. Changing the lane configuration elsewhere on roads have reduced broadside accidents by 30 to 50%, according to the release.
The new configuration should cut down on speeding but not greatly affect the overall drive time of the road. According to the release, the expected traffic capacity of a two-lane road with a central turning lane, 15,000 vehicles per day, is still well above the current load of Vickers Road — 6,000 to 8,800 per day.
“Our data shows that travel times will only see an increase of about 10 seconds, mostly due to drivers exceeding the speed limit no longer being able to pass slower vehicles,” he said.
“Given the tradeoffs, we expect to see in accident reduction and better compliance to posted speeds limits. This is a commonsense change that helps improve safety and makes it easier to travel along the road by widening the lanes, while minimally impacting drivers.”
