Colorado Springs residents petition for roundabout at Platte and Nevada intersection
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - Community organizations in Colorado Springs are looking to solve a long-standing issue of traffic and pedestrian concerns at the intersection of Platte and Nevada, which features the General Palmer statue in the center.
Cully Radvillas has lived in the city for over a decade, and started the "Beautiful Colorado Springs" instagram page. His group, along with "COSCarsKill" on Instagram, have recently pushed out a petition urging the City of Colorado Springs to implement a roundabout at the Platte and Nevada intersection.
They cite proven data about the decreases in accidents, injury and deaths from the use of roundabouts.
"This is probably one of the most heavily trafficked pedestrian corridors in our city, and we should be treating it as such." explained Radvillas.
Much to Radvillas delight, on Wednesday, when KRDO13 was speaking to the city about the concerns and the proposed idea, the City's Traffic Engineer said they just begun a study to look at the intersection more closely, and evaluate the feasibility of a roundabout being constructed there.
"We're going to look at traffic operations, safety, the configuration of a roundabout, what the cost might be, what are the impacts to right of away. All of those factors, all of those things go into making decisions regarding transportation changes." explained Todd Frisbe, the Traffic Engineer for the City of Colorado Springs.
Frisbe adds that this feasibility study comes after a years long traffic study that was done on Platte Avenue, which was released in February of 2024. Within the dozens of pages, it briefly touched upon the Palmer Statue intersection. Given the study's more broad overview it prompted Frisbe to want to take a closer look.
He says in his experience, he's seen roundabouts cost anywhere from $2.5 million to $3.5 million dollars, or more.
"Roundabouts are great. I would love to see more roundabouts. They're great transportation options for intersection control." added Frisbe.
One of the most recent victims of a serious crash that happened at the intersection, is 67-year-old Isadore Romero back on April 2, 2023. According to Bobbie Romero, her father was riding his motorcycle to pick up his wife that day, before a driver ended up making the "blind" left turn around the Palmer statue and collided with him, killing her father.
"Why don't we wait until things like this happen? Like, why didn't we figure out something about the statue before multiple people started dying?" explained Romero.
Colorado Springs Police say that since January of 2019, there have been 67 crashes at the intersection of Platte and Nevada, 16 of which resulted in injury, and two in death.
Ever since, Bobbie has pushed for a solution to help traffic at the intersection. It ultimately lead to the City implementing 'No Left Turn' signs at the crossroad, to prevent drivers from pulling the sometimes dangerous maneuver. However she felt it was only a "band-aid" of a fix to a larger problem.
Now she thinks the idea of a more permanent solution, such a roundabout is great, and is happy to see the City taking a step toward identify a possible long-term fix.
"I would love for it, to make it to where no family has to go through what I've gone through." said Romero.
Frisbe tells KRDO13 that study will take anywhere from six months to one year, and is just a preliminary look at what a project of that caliber would entail.
