SIDE STREETS: Smart folks are torn on Cascade Ave. plans

This is going to be interesting to watch play out, this traffic "experiment" planned for Cascade Avenue.

Will shrinking Cascade to one lane in each direction and installing roundabouts disrupt commuters and dissuade folks from driving downtown to shop, creating chaos as some fear? Or is it simply the first step in a huge change of attitude toward traffic management that will spread to other major arterials like Nevada Avenue and forever alter how we view transportation?

Some really smart people think it's a bad idea for the Old North End Neighborhood and Colorado Springs in general.

Drivers will struggle with the roundabouts, said Dr. Stephen Marsh, a surgeon and North End resident.

"Roundabouts just aren't part of our culture," Marsh said. "You have to understand how they work. Everybody has to do the dance together to make them work."

Liz Bevington, a former member of the City Planning Commission and ex-president of the Old North End Neighborhood Association, worries folks on Nevada Avenue, Weber Street and Wahsatch Avenue will suffer as life on Cascade improves.

"It's obvious that traffic is going to go over to Nevada, Weber and Wahsatch," Bevington said. "Traffic has to go somewhere. It's not fair to do that to the rest of the neighborhood."

Roundabouts contradict the stated desire to slow motorists and make it safer for Colorado College students crossing Cascade, said Susanne Barr, chairwoman of the Historic Preservation Board.

"Roundabouts supposedly keep a flow of traffic without needing signals," Barr said.

"How does that help students get across the street, if they maintain a flow of traffic?"

On the other hand, some really smart people think the changes will be great for everyone.
"We are so impressed the city planning staff had the courage to try this," said Steve Stivers, an aerospace engineer who lives along Cascade. "Many traffic studies show that when you do things like this, you don't get gridlock. The great fears of all this congestion flowing elsewhere will not be realized."

Dave Munger, president of the Old North End Neighborhood Association, agrees with consultants hired by CC who say the experiment will work.

"We think it will accomplish a lot of good things, and the biggest thing is that it will make the neighborhood, the college and downtown more pedestrian- and bicyclist-friendly," Munger said. "We think that will be good for everyone. We see this as a concept that can be applied throughout the whole city."

Stivers and Munger see it as just the first step in a systematic approach to changing bad driving habits and re-establishing neighborhoods as places where pedestrians are a priority.

"Our 1991 master plan calls for reduction and calming of traffic throughout the neighborhood," Munger said. "Narrowing of Cascade would be accompanied by similar narrowing of Weber and Wahsatch.

"We'd love to do the same thing on Nevada, but it carries too many cars."
Stivers said expanding roadways is the wrong approach. Changing driving habits is the key.

"Traffic will slow," he said. "People will drive less. It will work."

You get the idea. A lot of smart people think fewer lanes, roundabouts, speed humps and elevated crosswalks won't create chaos. They will slow traffic to reasonable speeds, encourage walking and biking and persuade commuters to stay on highways designed for high volumes of cars.

It will be interesting to watch.

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Tell me about your neighborhood: 636-0193 or bill.vogrin@gazette.com