First Westside RTA ‘A-list’ project set to start this fall

       The first of the Westside's “A-list” projects for the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority (RTA) is planned to start this fall, possibly this month.
       The $77,000 project is one of the smallest on the A-list, consisting of safety improvements on 30th Street at the access to the Navigators' entrance to Glen Eyrie (west) and the parking lot for the Blair Bridge public open space (east).
       Project designs have focused on “motorists' safety concerns about the lack of turning lanes on 30th Street combined with the higher turning volumes at the Navigators intersection,” an RTA information sheet states. “With the traffic speeds and vertical alignment along this two-lane stretch of 30th Street, oncoming vehicles have very minimal time to perceive and react to other motorists who are stopped to turn into the Navigator approach.”
       City Street Division crews will do the project's asphalt overlay, according to Traffic Engineering Manager Scott Logan.
       “Staff has determined that the best alternative is to overlay the east shoulder area as well as the parking area along the east side,” he wrote in an e-mail. “This will allow motorists traveling on 30th to safely pass on the right of turning motorists at the Navigator intersection. Lane markings will be included in the project to properly delineate the shoulder 'passing' area.”
       The parking lot is currently gravel, on which “motorists are now spinning out,” Logan said in a follow-up interview. The shoulder can be used for passing currently, but such driving has to be done “with care,” he added. “This will enhance it.”
       One of the safety improvements will be a “coarser asphalt coat along the shoulder area to reduce slick street conditions,” the info sheet notes.
       In addition to 30th Street, the RTA A-list includes three other Westside projects: Fillmore Street west of I-25, Chestnut Street/Garden of the Gods and the 25th Street Bridge over Fountain Creek. These projects are not planned any sooner than 2012, according to the current schedule.
       The Cimarron bridge, just east of I-25, is another A-list project that is getting started. It is to be closed for replacement Nov. 1-May 15.
       The RTA was formed when voters in Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs, Green Mountain Falls and El Paso County approved a 1 percent sales tax in November 2004 to address road and transit needs in the region.

Westside Pioneer article