Pair of road projects on Circle Drive in south Colorado Springs bring mixed emotions from drivers, neighbors
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Pothole paving and replacing four bridges are the two infrastructure projects currently happening on the south end of Circle Drive.
But they create mixed feelings among drivers, pedestrians and neighbors.
This is the second and final week of crews repairing numerous potholes on Circle, between Monterey Road and Fountain Boulevard -- potholes that many viewers have complained to KRDO13's The Road Warrior about since that coverage began two months ago.
City officials are still a month away from releasing this year's list of streets to be repaved as part of the 2C taxpayer-funded expanded paving program, now in its ninth year.
"We're not seeing an increase in the number of potholes," a city spokesman said. "We are doing this project because it's a problem area with a lot of people reporting potholes."
Yet there is considerable public frustration abut a project that began in December to replace four old bridges on Circle, just east of Interstate 25.
Narrow lanes and deteriorating pavement have many residents -- like George Whitesell -- feeling that the zone is the city's most dangerous transportation corridor.
Whitesell emailed The Road Warrior Wednesday night, including a photo of a recent two-car crash and the memory of the death of Bruce Frederickson, 38, a pedestrian struck and killed by a driver in March, near the end of the work zone at Circle and Janitell Road.
Both men live in a mobile home park at the foot of the bridge project.
"Might have been a driver who wasn't driving properly, might have hit a pedestrian who wasn't paying attention," Whitesell reflected. "The fact is, it's a dangerous area. Accidents happen. So, I think somehow, I have to believe that it's associated with the the the traffic problems that were here for 20 years and have been made worse by the bridge project."
Brenda Turner, the park's assistant manager, said that Frederickson lived with his mother.
"He was very sweet, sweet guy," she recalled. "He would walk up to 7-Eleven and Circle K on a daily basis. I spoke with Bruce's mom yesterday, and she was telling me that the guy who hit Bruce, that was his fifth DUI, and apparently he overcorrected or something. Bruce's family is wanting justice, and I don't blame them."
Police arrested Larry Patrick; he's been charged with vehicular homicide and DUI.
The bridge work zone also leaves precious little room for people to walk safely, although crews have established alternate routes for pedestrians.
The Road Warrior received a response from a city spokesman on the safety concerns.
"We're building the bridges to make them safer," he said. "We have appropriate safety measures in place. We can't have police out there 24 hours a day. We can't stop drivers from speeding, but we need their cooperation to slow down."
Meanwhile, some park neighbors say that more signs and flagmen, along with police enforcement, would greatly improve safety.
"People are going too fast," Whitesell said. "I've had several close calls with crashes. The right southbound lane is actually a merging lane for traffic from Hancock Expressway and a turn lane for the mobile home park, but people just fly through there and use it as a regular traffic lane. I've gotten flipped off by other drivers for properly being in that lane. "People just need to slow down."
