City investigating intersection where cyclists died

The city of Colorado Springs will explore whether any improvements are needed at an intersection on the west side where two bicyclists were struck and killed Wednesday evening, Colorado Springs' principal traffic engineer said Friday.

David Krauth said he visited the intersection of 26th Street and Westend Avenue, south of U.S. Highway 24, on Thursday. He said the Yshaped intersection, which allows southbound drivers to veer ofi 26th Street at a 45-degree angle onto Westend, is not ideal. He said the city does not allow such intersections in new construction and tries to fix existing ones when it does other work on such roads.

But he said he's not sure if anything can be done to make the intersection safer.

"I can't promise anything at this point," he said. "We'll have to see what we can do from an engineering perspective."

Police say Edgar "E.J." Juarez, 30, and Jayson Kilroy, 28, were killed when a pickup truck driven by 63-year-old Barbara Thomas struck them at the intersection of the streets shortly after 7:30 p.m. She was turning left onto Westend from southbound 26th Street as the cyclists were descending a hill on northbound 26th.

Police say Thomas was not wearing her required contact lenses and was under the influence of prescription drugs.

Thomas has been arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter, driving under the influence of drugs and driving with a restricted license.

The two men's deaths were the 13th and 14th this year on city streets. Of those, 11 have involved an impaired driver.

Krauth said his department looks closely at intersections where fatal accidents occur, as well as those that rank high in the city's annual list of high-accident locations.

The city also looks closely when traffic flow changes on a road, he said, and that might apply to 26th Street, which has seen an increase in bicycle traffic and which will soon be the site of a trailhead into Red Rock Canyon Open Space.

"We very seriously do look at what can be considered correctable situations," he said. "But this was not a correctable accident. We don't know precisely why this accident occurred."

He said motorists who are traveling south on 26th Street do not have an obstructed view at the intersection, and they are able to see far enough up 26th to spot oncoming traffic.

He said engineers will have to examine angles at the intersection and drainage and grade issues to see if it is possible to put in a more traditional 90-degree turn ofi 26th onto Westend.

He said a stop sign at the intersection is unlikely because there is a low volume of traffic out of Westend.

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Contact the writer: 636-0197 or bill.mckeown@gazette.com