Colorado Springs Pulls Concrete Barriers From West Colorado Avenue Crosswalks After Public Feedback

Public input is changing a year-long redesign of West Colorado Avenue in Colorado Springs, where city planners have taken out concrete barriers and reduced the center pedestrian refuge areas at crosswalks.

The project involves lane realignment, parking adjustments and new options for people on foot. Protected crosswalks were installed last month and have since been modified in response to comments from the public.

Ryan Phipps, the city's capital improvements manager, described the work as an ongoing process of trial and adjustment. "Recently we made some adjustments to what we had initially implemented, and this is just that ongoing iterative process of testing what's working, what's not working as well as was originally anticipated," Phipps said.

The concrete barriers, which were part of the first crosswalk design, are now gone. Phipps said people told the city the barriers, though temporary, blocked sightlines for pedestrians, particularly shorter ones, because they formed a solid wall of concrete.

The center pedestrian refuge areas were scaled back after input from first responders. Phipps said drivers trying to pull out of the way for emergency vehicles were at times creating a blockade at the refuge. The city removed those sections, he said, "to ensure that fire and police have the access that they need up and down Colorado Avenue."

Phipps said the changes are not necessarily corrections of mistakes but a search for better options. "It's all just kind of tweaking and balancing," he said, adding that the test phase is important for seeing how the design performs in practice.

Businesses along the corridor are following the changes closely. Centennial Cuts, a shop that sells Colorado beef, relies on customers being able to reach its door. Manager Joe Kliche said all of the store's cattle are raised on the family's ranch in Fowler, Colorado, now in its third generation, and that the beef is sold at the company's single brick-and-mortar location.

The store's Colorado-made products draw both local shoppers and tourists, so its managers are watching how roads, parking and walkways along the avenue are changing. Kliche said he likes the center lane for parking, which is helpful for loading and unloading. Managers had expected more additional parking, however, and reactions to the crosswalk changes have been mixed. Kliche called the stanchions rising in the middle of the street "a little weird."

The latest updates amount to a reset of this part of the trial period. City planners are now asking for further feedback to judge whether the changes are working.