CDOT to reduce speed limit on Mesa Ridge Parkway (Highway 16) in Fountain starting Monday
Scott Harrison
FOUNTAIN, Colo. (KRDO) — Concern about traffic backups at two intersections along the congested Mesa Ridge Parkway (State Highway 16) corridor on the north side of town has led authorities to lower the 55 mph speed limit to improve safety.
Beginning Monday, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) will permanently reduce the limit to 45 mph and decrease it to 35 mph at the intersection of Mesa Ridge and Syracuse Street, in front of Mesa Ridge High School.
During the past several months, viewers have contacted KRDO 13’s The Road Warrior about the crash risk from traffic backing up at the school as parents drop off and pick up kids, and about similar backups to the east at Fountain Mesa Road as drivers try to turn into the Lowe’s Home Improvement store.
Pepper Whittlef, CDOT program manager, said that the agency decided to change the speed limit after conducting a speed and crash study in the area earlier this year.
“We had 161 total crashes over five years,” she said. “Three of those were fatal crashes. Our top three accidents were rear-end, fixed-object, and sideswipes at the intersection of Syracuse and Colorado 16. 74 intersection-related crashes there.”
To help drivers adjust to the lowered speed limit, Fountain Police will conduct traffic enforcement in the area.
“We’ll also be installing, for the school year, some school speed flashers,” Whittlef explained. “That is for the times of the day when the high school and the middle school (James Madison Charter Academy) are releasing kids.”
She added that traffic to and from a new King Soopers grocery opening on Wednesday morning, on the south side of the Mesa Ridge/Syracuse intersection, is less of a concern because the developer paid for signal upgrades and street improvements there.
The lowered speed limit covers three miles of the parkway, between Interstate 25 and Powers Boulevard (State Highway 21).