Hundreds show up for East-West mobility town hall as potential Constitution Ave. extension is floated

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO)-- Saturday, the City of Colorado Springs discussed a potential feasibility study for improving East-West mobility, which would evaluate the option of widening Fillmore Street and extending Constitution Avenue from Union Boulevard to I-25.

The meeting was held in the gymnasium at Stratton Elementary School. The gym reached full capacity with over 200 people in the room. Not everyone who showed up made it inside, as dozens of people waited outside the building.

One concerned neighbor told KRDO he uses the Rock Island Trail frequently and he worries that it will get destroyed if this possible extension turns into a reality.

"I use this trail here, biking, walking with my wife, walking our dog. It's a way for us to get to each part of the city without having to take our car," Cody Burket said.

Burket hopes the City of Colorado Springs chooses other options.

"We could look at the existing railways that are there to what would take the infrastructure to turn them into light rails, to work with the existing railways in our city, to turn our city into more of a walkable and less car-centric environment," Burket said.

But at the meeting Saturday, city leaders took note of the concern from over 30 neighbors who spoke up at public comment. 

However, not all of the people who spoke up were against the study.

"I support the feasibility study because I'm interested to see what the city can do with this route," Lisa Hickey, another resident added.

Colorado Springs Public Works said the feasibility study is its first step in addressing the traffic issues they're seeing.

"There's a specific impact to specific neighborhoods, but a do-nothing alternative by default impacts everybody else trying to travel east, west impacts other neighborhoods. we need to come to a conscious decision as a community whether or not this is a feasible option or not going forward," said Travis Easton.

However, Public Works told KRDO it doesn't have a timeline for how long the study will take, or where the funding for it would come from.