Changes considered for Platte Avenue in Colorado Springs
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- One of the busiest corridors in the city, and one of the few streets that crosses the city from east to west, could have some significant changes in its future.
As part of an ongoing corridor study, city planners are looking at several strategies for improving Platte Avenue -- a thoroughfare that stretches mostly from downtown to Peterson Air Force Base.
One idea involves slowing and restricting traffic on the downtown end by reducing Platte to one lane in each direction and using the additional space for a center landscaped median, bike lanes and areas that can be used for special events.
The downtown section of Platte is where a Borriello Brothers pizza restaurant is located, and owner Mike Clemente isn't convinced that such changes would work.
"Limiting traffic downtown and trying to get more people to come downtown, doesn't seem to be making sense," he said. "We've got more people moving here, driving cars. I'm a bicyclist myself, but it doesn't make sense to make (Platte) one lane."
Another idea suggests widening the corridor between Academy and Powers boulevards because of traffic from residents of new homes being built on the northeast side of the city.
That idea also calls for removing the entrance and exit ramps at the Academy interchange, creating two intersections on either side of Academy and providing more space for potential development.
Platte Avenue was once part of U.S. 24 but as the city has grown and diversified, the thoroughfare doesn't serve users as well as it did.
"Each corridor is unique and different," said Aaron Egbert, senior city engineer. "Some's residential, some's business, some are downtown businesses, different cultures. So what we're trying to do is match those areas up, kind of come up with different concepts."
Egbert said that the study should be finished by the end of the year, but there are no cost estimates or timetables for specific projects.
Citizens are asked to submit ideas for improving Platte to the city online; the next public session is scheduled for Thursday.
For more information, visit: https://coloradosprings.gov/platteavenue.
