Thank you for your participation in the 
Safer Roads Southeast Chelton Road & Jet Wing Drive Restriping Project.

Earlier this summer, the City of Colorado Springs Traffic Engineering Division conducted two virtual public meetings to report on traffic analysis conclusions and to solicit feedback from the public. Based on the results of the traffic analysis, the thoughtful survey responses of about 200 members of the public, and the values and needs for the Southeast area of Colorado Springs expressed throughout this process, the City Traffic Engineering Division has made the decision to move forward with extending bike lanes along the half-mile segment of Jet Wing Drive between north of Baytown Drive and South  Academy Boulevard.
 
In late 2019, in advance of the proposed 2020 repaving project, the City launched a traffic analysis of several proposed traffic calming and bicycle-network projects in the Southeast, including the Hancock Expressway, Chelton Road and this final segment of Jet Wing Drive.
 
"Based on the values the community shared this summer through the Safer Roads Southeast public process, we believe these changes to a low-volume road will serve the needs of the community for a safer, calmer, multimodal roadway that will also support redevelopment efforts in this area," said Kate Brady, Senior Bicycle Planer for the City of Colorado Springs.
 
Proposed roadway improvements for Chelton Road and the Hancock Expressway are still being evaluated. The City is committed to providing infrastructure that will provide bicycle connections, improve safety for all roadway users and do so with minimal impact on level of service of the roadways. Based on what we heard during the public meetings, and to make the best decision for the neighborhood, the City has have gone back to the traffic  consultants to develop options at the Fountain Boulevard and South Academy Boulevard  intersections. The additional information and options from the consultant will help guide the City's final decision, anticipated by the end of this year, and assure a project that people in the Southeast will be comfortable using.
Improvements to Jet Wing Drive

In conjunction with repaving work happening this month, Jet Wing Drive between north of Baytown Drive and Academy Boulevard will be converted from four travel-lanes with a center turn lane to two travel-lanes, a center turn lane and two buffered bike lanes. The new configuration will serve to calm traffic and extend existing bicycle connections between the half-mile segment of Jet Wing east of South Academy past the Mission Trace Shopping Center and Boychuck Avenue west of South Academy.

In addition, these changes will serve to:
  • Provide dedicated space for people in cars and people on bikes, and a buffered area in between, to provide a greater margin for error for all roadway users.
  • Make it easier for people on foot or on bikes to crossing Jet Wing Drive to get to the Mission Trace Shopping Center, and also make it easier for people from other neighborhoods to bike to Mission Trace.

 

When installed, this segment will complete bike lanes on Jet Wing Drive from Wernimont Circle on the north to South Academy Boulevard to the south, and when combined with other striping improvements on Jet Wing, will provide safer crossings of Fountain Boulevard / Highway 24 and South Academy Boulevard, two of the larger barriers for multimodal transportation in the Southeast.

The intersection of South Academy Boulevard and Jet Wing Drive is a T-intersection, but there is a sidewalk connection between Boychuck Avenue, east of and parallel to South Academy Boulevard, and both the crosswalk at Jet Wing Drive and the southbound bus stops on Academy. People on bikes will now be able to use this connection at a lower volume intersection to provide access to the bike network east of South Academy Boulevard.

 

For more information about the Safer Roads Southeast project visit:   ColoradoSprings.gov/SaferRoadsSoutheast.
Project Background

Between 2016 and 2018 the City completed a citywide Bike Master Plan, which involved extensive public engagement. One element of the plan was a vision network map of existing and future bicycle infrastructure. When built out, this network would provide basic connectivity across the city. The Master Plan identified locations for infrastructure, but did not specify what that infrastructure would look like or when it would be built. The Safer Roads Southeast segments under question were all identified in that future network.