Patience Urged as More Traffic Backups Expected
Trevor Phipps
Many Colorado residents have jokingly said that the orange road construction cone should become the official Colorado state tree.
Every summer, the state gets glittered with cones and traffic barriers as road construction crews are forced to work during the warm weather. This schedule, though, frustrates local residents and motorists, and those opting for recreational outings in the Teller high country. At the same time, government officials are happy about the money being invested into road improvements.
Regardless, local road construction projects put a damper on early summer season travel. But at least for now, the orange cone furor has subsided, but officials caution local motorists not to get too optimistic about fast travel through the area and are urging patience. In fact, more backups could be coming to Teller County soon.
Even though most locals know that roads need to be maintained and improved, it creates a headache when roads are already busy during the tourist season. And to make matters worse, it’s hard to tell when any particular journey will become inhibited by traffic cones or lane-road closures.
When the summer season first started and traffic really began to pick up, many Teller residents noticed traffic congestion caused by road construction projects taking place in the region. At one point, there was road construction between Manitou Springs and Cascade on Hwy. 24, then another improvement project on Hwy. 67 in Woodland Park; and to further frustrate motorists, multiple lanes were closed on Hwy. 24 in Divide.
According to a report on KRDO Channel 13, at one point it took someone more than four hours to travel east on Hwy. 24 from Lake George to Woodland Park, a trip that would normally take about 30 minutes. Another KRDO article reported that businesses on Hwy. 67 in Woodland Park had experienced less traffic due to the road construction.
But in the weeks since traffic started to pick up in the region in mid-June, the traffic backups have basically subsided. But local officials say there could be more backups to come as the road construction projects move to different phases.
Before the busy Fourth of July holiday weekend, many were concerned about traffic issues during this period. But according to Teller County Commissioner Erik Stone, the crews halted work on the local projects during the busy weekend, and motorists didn’t report any significant backups.
Resurfacing Hwy. 24 in Western Teller
The biggest project in the region currently is the resurfacing of Hwy. 24, from just west of Woodland Park near Edlowe Road, all the way to the county line. “As a part of the resurfacing they had to remove and replace the median in Divide to help make that intersection safer,” Stone said. “Most of that removal work in Divide has been done.”
Therefore, now that the lanes have reopened at the intersection of Hwys. 24 and 67 in Divide, the backups are not occurring like they had. Now the road crews are focusing on the resurfacing part of the project, which is slated to last until at least November.
For now, traffic has gotten better, but more lane closures will have to take place once they get to resurfacing sections of the highway that are only two lanes. Stone said that when they resurface the section of the highway between Divide and Florissant, traffic backups will most likely take place again when the two-lane highway is reduced to one lane.
“The major backups are over,” Stone said. “They didn’t do any paving operations over the holiday weekend. So, they are being very sensitive to heavy traffic times and getting the equipment of the roads and keeping all lanes open. Of course, there will be times (especially as they start moving into the canyon) where there is going to be some slowdowns between Divide and Florissant.”
But Stone did say that the good news is that the project is currently on schedule. Last year, when part of the Hwy. 24 resurfacing project was completed, the crews got a late start in the season due to the weather. But this year, weather conditions allowed the road construction companies to get started early.
Stone said that due to their early start, he expects the project will be completed on time.
Widening of Hwy. 67
Another road construction project that has caused backups in the region is the work being done to Hwy. 67 just north of the Hwy. 24 intersection in Woodland Park. The road is currently getting widened from the County Road intersection to the Kelley’s Road intersection to help traffic with new construction being built in the area.
The four-lane section of the highway has been reduced to two lanes. And although a bit confusing, traffic has flowed pretty well for the most part.
During some weekdays flaggers can be seen on the highway temporally stopping traffic and reducing the road to one lane. But the closures have been brief, and no work has taken place on the busy weekends. Moreover, the road crews have worked hard to keep access to all local businesses during the construction.
Luckily, at the end of June, it was announced that the Hwy. 67 project was half-finished. Both projects are slated to be completed before the winter season arrives.
