Street Safety
Old North End neighbors who work to meet the needs of growing city.
Mission of the ONEN Street Safety Committee
In recognition of the pressure to expand transportation duties through the Old North End, the Street Safety Committee aims to work with various stakeholders to meet the needs of a growing city while reducing the volume of non-local traffic and calming the traffic that remains.
Why is Street Safety Critical for Our Neighborhood?
- Although we have only approximately 5,600 residents, there are 32,000 vehicles per day that traverse our four Minor Arterials
- Our roads were designed before automobiles, and safety measures have not been adapted to the purposes that the roads now serve
- The number of vehicles has been slowly decreasing over the past 30 years, resulting in much higher speeds
- As a result, residents have recorded 7 traffic related fatalities since 2002, and witnessed countless other devastating accidents
- Furthermore, traffic noise and other consequences increase exponentially with vehicle speed, reducing livability and walkability
Due to our location, there will always be pressure for expanding the use of transit infrastructure through the Old North End Neighborhood. ONEN has a long history of reducing or mitigating the impact, but there is more work to be done. We’re glad you’re here to help!
Our Plan for Action
- Get educated: These are complex problems with serious technical and political obstacles. Follow the links below to get started.
- Take Action: Coordinated action with a unified voice yields the greatest impact for optimizing our situation
Read ONEN’s Street Safety Recommendations
A collaborative plan to calm traffic through structural changes that are within conventional traffic engineering practice. Read and download full traffic calming plan
Opportunities for Resident Action
We need your help. We have evidence of resident action to inhibit expansion of our streets since 1916. Long term residents tell us that they have been fighting these battles continuously since then, and we see no reason to suspect they will ever stop. Here are some ways to get involved:
Please just stay engaged and informed
- Get on our mailing list
- Watch the ONEN Newsletter
- Join our transit Committee
- Review our materials and conclusions on this site. If you find an error, please let us know
Contact city officials
- Letter, emails, phone calls
- Addresses can be found here
Attend public meetings
- Daytime meetings are difficult for many to attend, but can be very impactful
- Citizen’s Transportation Advisory Board, First Tuesday, 3 PM
- Planning Commission, Third Thursday, 8:30 AM
- City Council, Second and Third Tuesday, 10 AM
- Evening meetings are good to stay informed of hot topics, and a large showing of residents gets noticed
Neighborhood Transportation Studies and Plans
There is evidence of resident action on street safety concerns going back to 1916. Since 1989, there have been several studies of the traffic condition, and some of these have resulted in plans for modifications. It is our opinion that most of these plans have only made the situation worse for some ailing streets. This page is intended to collect these studies to record where we have been in hopes that it might illuminate the path forward.
We note that three of the studies conducted by the city or independent traffic engineering firms all recommended road diets for all four north/south arterials. This result was also recommended by every study conducted by our neighborhood after the 1989 Master Plan.
- 1989 ONEN Master Plan Traffic Study
- 2013 Colorado College Master Plan
- 2016 ONEN Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan
- 2016 Old North End Traffic Study
- 2017 Old & Near North End Transportation Study
- 2018 ONEN Street Safety Plan
- 2019 Lane Reduction Feasibility Analysis
In addition to these formal studies, there have been numerous traffic count data collection events by the city of Colorado Springs an CDOT. Results from these measurements are held on file with the ONEN Street Safety Committee and are available on request.