El Paso County is updating its 2045 Major Transportation Corridor Plan, which was adopted in 2016. The MTCP is the long-range plan focusing on the multi-modal transportation system in unincorporated El Paso County.
It has been a long and complex process. County planners update the MTCP every few years. The 2045 MTCP is nearing completion after a multiyear process that will end Jan. 31, when no more public comments or suggestions will be considered and the draft plan will be released.
Until then, the public is invited to review and comment on the draft MTCP available at www.2045mtcp.com/get-involved. According to the MTCP website, you can “View and comment on the map-based recommended projects, functional classifications and corridor preservation plan, and take a short 2-question survey to indicate your support for the draft MTCP or express your concerns.”
Only two Westside projects are proposed: replacing the gravel on 3.4 miles of Old Stage Road for an estimated $7.3 million and 2.6 miles of Rampart Range Road for $4.7 million.
That’s because there are comparatively few roads in western unincorporated El Paso County. Much of it is national forest or steep mountain landscape. Westside roads are primarily located within Colorado Springs, Manitou or small communities up Ute Pass.
The plan compares present congestion levels with future projections, both the Pikes Peak Area Council of Government’s “fiscally constrained model with minimal improvements in the unincorporated county and with the improvements associated with the MTCP 2045 Roadway Plan. The Roadway Plan improvements are expected to reduce the miles of congested roads from 16 percent down to 11 percent.”
That’s only fractionally larger than today’s congestion level. Is it actually achievable?
Residents hate traffic in their neighborhoods – Jim Roughton
Jim Raughton, who has chaired the Colorado Springs Planning Commission and worked as a professional planner in Denver and other communities, thinks that it is.
“There are lots of ways of mitigating traffic impacts,” he noted, “including everything from speed limits to timed entries and tolls of various kinds. But you’ll always have tension between traffic engineers and city residents. Residents hate traffic in their neighborhoods and engineers want free-flowing traffic, both on major highways and minor arterials.”
Planning 20 years into the future isn’t a simple process. The plan is specific and detailed, and includes estimated costs of each project. Consider, for example, the 25 “Rural County Road Projects.”
All are in northern western and eastern El Paso County, including Black Forest Road, Colorado Highway 105, Hodgen Road, Judge Orr Road and similar roadways. The most expensive is $72 million, the cheapest $4.2 million. Total cost of all 25: $846.4 million.
There’s a separate category for gravel road updates, which are projected to cost $195.1 million, as well as $210 million for county road-widening projects.
But the most expensive category is new road construction, clocking in at $1.217 billion. It includes the South Powers Extension, a nine-mile four-lane expressway from Mesa Ridge Parkway to Interstate 25 at an estimated cost of $772 million.
There’s also a brief transit plan, albeit one without specific goals, funding or recommendations.
“While not a provider of transit services, El Paso County supports regional goals to address the public transportation needs of its residents,” the corridor study notes. “While the county recognizes transit providers typically align fixed-route service areas with good rider demand, there could also be opportunities for demand-responsive or flex route services for residents in unincorporated El Paso County.”
The county is open to considering partnering on projects for routes, studies or transit alternatives that serve its residents in unincorporated areas.
How will the projects be funded? The multi-billion dollar package is aspirational, not contractual. County tax revenues, as well as road impact fees on new development, will have to be carefully deployed to minimize long-term costs.
It’ll be up to elected and appointed officials to enact the plan.
