Submitted by Elizabeth Gee, Hughes & Stuart Marketing on behalf of Castle Pines Metro District

ROUNDABOUTS PROPOSED TO MAKE HAPPY CANYON ROAD SAFE & EFFICIENT

Paul Dannels, District Manager of the Castle Pines Metro District, has announced public safety funds, held by the Douglas County Special District, have been reserved to pay for two proposed roundabouts along Happy Canyon Road.

Said Dannels, “The reasons for the roundabouts are to make the road safer for Douglas County residents and to provide better traffic flows. Upon reviewing the Douglas County Sheriff Department’s past several years of accident reports along Happy Canyon Road, we discovered way too many injuries. So we researched information provided by the U.S. Federal Highway Administration, cities across the country, and looked locally at the City of Lone Tree and the Town of Castle Rock. That is when we discovered the best solution to decreasing the number of accidents along Happy Canyon Road – Roundabouts. “

“Roundabouts are proven to be extremely effective in reducing accidents and to our surprise, they actually improve traffic flows.” said Dannels. He added, “Fortunately, the expense of installing the roundabouts has been reserved and thus there are no tax mill levy increases involved. So, our next step is to follow up on our initial submission with the Douglas County Commissioners for their approval and to move forward on construction as soon as possible.”

According to the District’s engineer Jonathan Gray, “The number of traffic-related violations and/or accidents reported along Happy Canyon Road is too high. After reviewing the number of accidents that have occurred in the past few years along Happy Canyon Road, I believe the increasing potential for a fatality shouldn’t be ignored, especially since the funding is already in place.”

Nationally, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports roundabouts, used instead of stop signs and traffic signals, significantly improve traffic flow and safety. Where roundabouts have been installed, motor vehicle crashes have declined by about 40 percent, and those involving injuries have been reduced by about 80 percent. That means for every 100 accidents that incurred before the roundabouts were installed, there were 80 fewer accidents, after it was installed. The other fact provided by the Federal Highway Safety Reports states that roundabouts also improve traffic flows. “It all adds up to a safer Happy Canyon Road for Douglas County residents,” said Gray.

Justin Schaefer, PE Senior Transportation Engineer for the City of Colorado Springs stated that, “Roundabouts are a significant benefit to the traveling residents in Colorado Springs. Not only do they reduce crashes but also severity of crashes from that of a traditional signalized intersection. The devices also require much less maintenance costs. For instance, the cost including labor, material and equipment to install a new traffic signal is around $230,000 with yearly maintenance cost around $5,000 not to include replacement of controllers and cameras. Currently, Colorado Springs has 80 plus roundabouts with several more in the planning stages”

Bob Goebel, Public Works Director for the Town of Castle Rock, stated that the two new roundabouts installed on Ridge Road in the Town were constructed to address two problems. The first one was to meet the need for anticipated future traffic signals at the two major intersections based on volume, and the second was to solve the speeding problem on Ridge Road. The road had a long straight section that drivers frequently sped through. The appropriate use of roundabouts in lieu of traffic signals has created manageable intersections regarding their safety.”

LeAnna, a Douglas County Resident stated that, “As a mother of 4 who lives in Castle Rock and frequently drives Happy Canyon, I think roundabouts are a safe alternative. I have driven other roundabouts in and outside of Castle Rock, and find them of ease to navigate and they do not require a complete stop so traffic may safely keep flowing.”

Dave, a landscape contractor states, “I have large trailers with a fifth wheel truck that I must use to haul my equipment. I don’t have any trouble navigating roundabouts with my truck and readily drive the ones that Castle Rock installed on Ridge Road.”

According to Gray, “Currently Happy Canyon Road is no different from other similar roads in Douglas County regarding safety. However, recent traffic studies done by Douglas County shows that 85% of the vehicles driving on Happy Canyon Road are speeding 44-45 mph over the posted 35 mph. In addition, 15% of the commuters are traveling greater than 44-45 mph. The study also looked at who is traveling on the road including a license plate survey. This concluded that roughly 60% of the traffic was traveling through the area from Highway 85 to I-25 greatly indicating a need for a County wide regional solution to the safety of the roadway. In addition, a great number of pedestrian and bicyclists must cross Happy Canyon Road to get to the Douglas County trails and the Commercial Center. The roundabout would provide a safe way to cross. These facts coupled with blind intersections, limited vertical site distances and winding curves has a negative impact to public safety on the road. When you consider the projected number of vehicles, potentially 20,000 +/- vehicles per day coming from the Meadows Development and increasing new development on all sides of Happy Canyon Road the need to preempt a potentially dangerous roadway not only justifies the project, but allows for a 24-7 self enforcing device to continually slow traffic and improve safety. This is achievable at little to no yearly maintenance costs with the roundabout. The only other alternative is a signal that would stop traffic and cause potential traffic jams. It is important to note that if roundabouts are not the selected traffic-calming devices then Douglas County by their recent roadway studies and traffic analysis warrants traditional signalized intersections.” (Source: the Douglas County Happy Canyon Road Traffic Analysis Report, dated February 10, 2009).

The Federal Highway Department states that when roundabouts are installed the benefits are lives saved. Up to 90 % reduction in fatalities, 76% reduction in injury crashes, 30-40% reduction in pedestrian crashes

Happy Canyon Road is owned and maintained by Douglas County. It sees an average of 7,000 cars per day, numerous bicyclists avoiding the busy connecting roads, and a good number of pedestrians. It is a prime major arterial collector road southwest of I-25 running along Castle Pines to Highway 85 (Sante Fe Drive) and serves the commuting public. The two roundabouts will be installed along Happy Canyon Road at the highest traffic, volume intersection locations.

For more information please contact Jonathan Gray District Engineer at 303-688-8330.