CDOT mulls stoplight at Ridge Road & Hwy 24

       The Colorado Depart-ment of Transportation (CDOT) is researching whether a stoplight should be installed at Ridge Road and Highway 24.
       Terry Shippy, a CDOT traffic operations engineer, explained these efforts Dec. 2 to Marti Powell, who had e-mailed him about the issue that day. Powell is one of several Westsiders who believe the intersection is dangerous. “The need for this signal is quite immediate, especially with the addition of the traffic to the Red Rock Canyon (Open Space),” Powell states in an e-mail to Shippy.
       The intersection provides the main access to the nearly 800-acre City Parks open space property, which opened to the public last year. The area south of the intersection also has a few dozen residences, and another 18 lots were shaped in the past year for the Red Rock Canyon Estates development.
       Shippy's response e-mail, which Powell shared with the Westside Pioneer, states that CDOT “will get the latest accident reports from the Colorado State Patrol to evaluate the accident history (at the intersection).” CDOT also plans to look at traffic volume. If the counts are high enough, a stoplight could be deemed necessary on that basis, he explained.
       In a follow-up with the Westside Pioneer, Shippy elaborated that the traffic counts would be taken “in early summer when the park usage is higher. As soon as we get the counts, a decision will be made within a few days.”
       He added that future traffic impacts are not taken into account in such studies “unless a large development comes in such as Wal-Mart, for example. Red Rock Park is a minor development.”
       The issue of a stoplight at Ridge Road/Highway 24 also came up as part of inputs during the public meetings this past year on future Westside Highway 24 improvements.

Westside Pioneer article