More than 140 Castle Pines Village residents and Castle Pines Metro District staff members showed their support by wearing red and wearing S.A.F.E. stickers at a recent Happy Canyon Road roundabouts public meeting.

by Elizabeth Wood West with photo courtesy of Castle Pines Metro District

More than 140 Castle Pines Village residents and Castle Pines Metro District (CPMD) staff showed up at Douglas County’s June 29 public meeting wearing red attire and S.A.F.E. (“safe access for everyone”) stickers to show support for CPMD’s proposed roundabouts project for Happy Canyon Road. The two roundabouts will be constructed at Gates 1 and 2 in Castle Pines Village and will be paid for by CPMD.

CPMD and Douglas County Engineering staff gave presentations explaining the impressive safety, traffic flow, and financial benefits of using roundabouts compared with stoplights and stop signs. The highlight of the meeting was the five-minute “roundabouts rodeo” video, which showed several large vehicles maneuvering around a mock-up of the proposed roundabouts at the Douglas County Fairgrounds.

Public Comments

Castle Pines Homes Association (CPHA) President Al Dugan said the vast majority of residents support the project and that the roundabouts will be placed at the busiest parts of Happy Canyon Road; he also reiterated that CPHA is not interested in the privatization of Happy Canyon Road. Several Village residents added their support of the roundabouts because of current and future traffic safety concerns on Happy Canyon Road as neighboring developments reach build-out.

A Douglas County Sheriff‘s representative spoke favorably about roundabouts in general because they are not affected by power outages and eliminate drivers running stoplights.

According to South Metro Fire Rescue Authority’s representative, getting to a resident’s home quickly is the department’s number one priority, and any traffic control device will slow it down. “The Town of Parker’s roundabout was not well-designed and created problems for us,” said the SMFR representative. “We have no objections to roundabouts as long as they work well for us.”

Castle Rock Fire Chief Art Morales also supported the roundabouts project and remarked that one of their vehicles had successfully participated in the roundabouts rodeo.

Western Douglas County Citizens Alliance representative Bill Henry and several Sedalia residents spoke against the project because of concerns about the previously-attempted privatization of Happy Canyon Road, emergency vehicle response times being slowed, and stated that the project is unwarranted.

Douglas County’s Approval Process

Because the roundabouts project is considered a “District-Funded Public Improvement Project,” Planning Commission and Board of County Commissioners hearings are not required for approval.

If CPMD meets all of the county’s criteria for the project, the roundabouts project will likely be approved and construction may begin. As of press time, the Board of County Commissioners were considering issuing a license agreement with CPMD to install and maintain the roundabouts’ landscaping and accept right-of-ways for the project at its July 27 Business Meeting.

For further information, please contact Douglas County Engineering at 303-660-7490 or e-mail or CPMD District Engineer Jon Gray at 303-688-8330 or e-mail.