Downtown Jaywalking: Now, you can get hit from both directions!

As of early Monday morning (April 7, 2008), the "main drag" through downtown Colorado Springs (Tejon Street) has reopened to two-way traffic. This isn't a totally new venture since it was like this 37 years ago when the city decided that it was too timeconsuming to drive through downtown. So, they chopped up parts and pieces of the street into one-way sections and it was like a small rat race trying to make your way around. The nice thing was, jaywalking was simple! You just look one way across the three lanes and run. Now, it's a bit more complicated and feels more like "Frogger" minus the logs. I was driving downtown this morning on Tejon and noticed a couple of pedestrians making feeble attempts to cross the now very busy street. Afterall, that was the point of the change and officials expect traffic to increase from 7,500 cars per day to nearly 11,000.

Spending money...for the same results?

Well, if you live in Colorado Springs and drive Garden of the Gods, it's been a lingering question in your mind: "Can I turn onto Rusina Road off Garden of the Gods?" It's an awful interesection and many people headed westbound on Garden of the Gods cut across the solid white line to turn right on Rusina. It's the access road to hotels, restuarants, and the Pinecliff subdivision. The intersection is poorly marked and many accidents have already happened. G of G drivers wanting to exit Rusina have to cut off drivers exiting from I-25. What's strange is CDOT just rebuilt this interesection...exactly like it was before...? WHY? This intersection has always been a problem and they had the opportunity to fix it. Apparently, according to article in the Gazette newspaper and CDOT employees, it's illegal to turn there from G of G. Which means, that anyone who wants to access those hotels and restuarants has to drive right past them, turn at Chestnut, and make the full loop back around. Now (surprise, surprise) there's a battle going on about how to resolve this issue. Check out the full article for more info, but for now, don't make the illegal turn unless you want a ticket or a serious accident. Who knows why we spent the taxpayers money to redo an intersection and not correct a major problem.