Tejon stretch opens to two-way traffic

Just before dawn Monday morning in Colorado Springs, 20 hardy souls boarded a shuttle and took off on a historic journey no one has taken in 37 years.

Nah, the shuttle wasn't blasting off to the stars, carrying brave astronauts. It was just a yellow downtown bus carrying politicians and businesspeople.

But it was the first vehicle to drive north on a fiveblock stretch of Tejon Street since 1971 (not counting drunks and confused tourists).

OK, the short drive north on what for three decades was a one-way, southbound street wasn't exactly man-walking-on-the-moon historic. But it was a pretty big deal for these parts.

"I'm delighted," said Chuck Murphy, a longtime Colorado Springs businessman. "It's been a long time coming. This will be a real boon for downtown."

As the shuttle drove north from the Pioneers Museum, city crews pulled back barriers at each intersection that had blocked Tejon since early Sunday morning.

The bus' headlights revealed a street that had gotten a thorough makeover the day before: Freshly laid paint marked two through lanes in each direction, with left-turn lanes at each intersection and truck unloading zones midblock. New signal lights hung from overhead poles. Fresh parking lines angled north on the east side of the street. And a plethora of signs sprouted at crosswalks warning pedestrians to look both ways before stepping into the road.

"Change is good," said bus rider and City Councilman Jerry Heimlicher, whose district includes the downtown area.

"I'm sure there are people in the suburbs wondering what all the fuss is about, but if we can help the businesses downtown - the heart of any city - I'm all for it."

Tejon was made one-way in 1971, when traffic on the street reached 11,000 vehicles a day, prompting complaints that it was too timeconsuming to drive through downtown.

Times and business philosophy have changed. The Downtown Partnership, an advocacy group for area businesses, acknowledges the conversion will probably raise traffic volumes on the street from the current 7,500 vehicles a day back to about 11,000 a day.

But the partnership says a crowded downtown is a good thing. It generates interest. It encourages people to park their cars at nearby city parking garages and walk the streets. And that, it says, could raise business revenue and encourage other businesses to locate downtown.

One man not on the bus Monday morning was Ralph Hibbard, who has a unique perspective on Tejon Street. His family established a department store on Tejon in 1892. Five generations of Hibbards kept the store going until it closed in 1995.

Hibbard said Monday the family saw the evolution of downtown businesses as they were forced to react to the growth of suburbs and the challenge of malls built to serve those residents.

He said the kind of businesses that are downtown now need a greater number of pedestrians strolling the street, enjoying an urban experience, with the time to explore what the shops have to offer.

He thinks a two-way Tejon will encourage that.

"I think it's positive," he said. "I think eventually it will be much more friendly for the pedestrian and shopper, and that will be good for downtown."

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0197 or bill.mckeown@gazette.com