The person who shot this photo titled it “Woodmen and I-25. Terror.”
Woodmen and I-25 is the most dangerous intersection in Colorado Springs, according to the police department there, as Angelica Lombardi writes for KRDO.com. The Colorado Springs Police Department released a list of the most dangerous intersections in the city, based on 2014 data, Lombardi writes. KRDO published much of the list here.
Colorado Springs engineers said more traffic leads to more car accidents, Lombardi writes. The second most dangerous intersection on the list is I-25 and Nevada; Nevada appears on the list seven times, in seven intersections. Lombardi quotes Kathleen Krager, transportation manager: “Nevada has a fairly high volume of traffic, but most of the accidents on Nevada are simply because of driver error.”
The list also includes highway interchanges, where — once again — I-25 and Woodmen is the most dangerous, followed by I-25 and Nevada South coming in at number two. In a KRDO video, Mechelle Haflich, who lives and works on Nevada and East Jackson, said it seems like there have been more accidents in the last year.
Lombardi quotes Haflich:
‘A few months ago, I witnessed an accident where the car was flipped over. I don’t know the reasons why but I think it’s a fast traveling road and people aren’t paying attention,’ said Haflich.
On Sunday, a two-vehicle accident happened at Nevada and East Jackson. A Sedan split in half when it was struck by a Corvette at a high speed.
In the video, and in Lombardi’s article, Krager said traffic engineers cannot prevent people from driving too fast and under the influence of alcohol. Colorado Springs can only fix intersections where accidents take place in low traffic areas, Krager said. Interchanges typically have a large number of accidents, she added. Haflich said it would seem wise for drivers to be “a little more vigilant” when driving on Nevada, whether heading north or south.
In a comment to the article, Jeff Cohn writes that these locations have been added to the national map at BadIntersections.com. A commenter named loc dog suggests that Colorado should make it more difficult to get a driver’s license in the state. And a commenter named Traci wishes there were more affordable and more reliable public transportation for people who do not want to drive.
Interstate-25/Cimarron Interchange project diagram, courtesy CDOT
In a related news item, what the Colorado Department of Transportation says is “one of the region’s busiest interstate highway interchanges” is about to undergo a multi-million-dollar makeover. The second largest highway project in Colorado Springs’ history, the Interstate-25/Cimarron Interchange will be reconstructed for improved operations and safety, CDOT writes. It includes the I-25 Interchange between Colorado Avenue (to the north) and Nevada Avenue/Tejon Street interchange (to the south). One of its features is a continuous northbound lane between the S. Nevada/Tejon interchanges and the Cimarron interchange, CDOT writes.
The $113 million project — on which “Phase 0 [zero] Construction” begins this month, offline — is fully funded, via federal, state, RAMP (Responsible Acceleration of Maintenance and Partnerships), local federal Metro funds, and local sources, which include local match funding from the City of Colorado Springs and El Paso County’s project partners. The project will be fully completed by the fall of 2017, CDOT writes. The largest highway project in Colorado Springs was COSMIX — Colorado Springs Metropolitan Expansion Project: 2004-2008, CDOT writes.
Image by Barbara Samuel