El Paso County using new road committee to improve safety at stop-controlled intersections

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) - Avoiding tragedies like two just before Thanksgiving 2023 at a busy intersection in Falcon is the goal of a road safety committee that formed two years ago and recently met to decide its first steps.

Within a week of that holiday, two separate crashes at or near the intersection of Woodmen and Meridian roads resulted in two people killed and a third seriously injured.

One of the accidents involved two teens on a motorcycle that authorities determined ran a red light.

On Tuesday morning, while at the intersection to report on this story, KRDO13's The Road Warrior saw a near-crash where a pickup truck towing a car appeared to run a red light and avoided a collision only by driving the wrong way on Meridian.

"We already have a road safety plan," said Jack Ladley, the county's deputy public works director. "But two years ago, we formed a road safety committee to look at intersections controlled by stop signs or stop signals. Our intersections meet safety requirements, but we want to see if we can do more."

Ladley said that the committee met several weeks ago and chose a list of intersections to prioritize for safety upgrades.

"I'm not prepared to discuss the list explicitly, because I want to meet with county administration and tell them what we've come up with," he explained. "But I'm really excited about the work this team has done."

The safety committee, Ladley said, includes engineers, county staff, and the sheriff's office. He hopes that by summer, county commissioners will approve the upgrades and provide funding of around a million dollars.

"What can we do to warn people that there's a stop sign coming up?" he asked. "Can we apply rumble strips? Can we light these stop signs up in some way?"

In a related matter, KRDO 13's The Road Warrior reported in February 2024 that the county was investing $11 million to improve safety at 24 pedestrian crossings.