Two-week project to improve left turns near two shopping centers begins Monday in Falcon
Scott Harrison
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — The snow that fell overnight Sunday didn’t delay a project to make upgrades to a pair of left-turn lanes between two shopping areas along a busy road in Falcon.
Officials have closed the northbound turn lane into a Walmart shopping center, and the southbound turn lane into a McDonald’s business area, on Meridian Road, just south of Woodmen Road.
County officials issued a release about the project last week, without providing specifics of the work being done.
Improving accessibility along county roads was stated in the release as the general reason for the project.
One improvement could be to replace lane makers that have worn off the pavement over time and traffic.
McLaughlin Road, Rolling Thunder Way, Foxtail Meadow Lane, and Meridian Market View (through the Walmart shopping center) are the recommended detours.
According to the release, the county has scheduled 15 days to complete the project — weather permitting.
It’s the area’s second road project this year.
In August, crews reconstructed and paved Foxtail Meadow, behind the Walmart and between Woodmen and Rolling Thunder, to include the Rolling Thunder/Foxtail Meadow intersection.
That led some neighbors to ask why the county didn’t keep an earlier promise to perform the same work on the remaining 3/4-mile of Rolling Thunder, which currently has many pothole patches.
The county responded by saying that it would consider adding that segment to next year’s paving list.
Denni Offord sent an email to KRDO 13’s The Road Warrior after the story aired, expressing displeasure with the project:
“The only way the county can improve traffic and Safety at the Walmart intersection in Falcon is with a light (traffic signal). That is the original intersection of 2007. It is so dangerous from all directions. The county just adds more and more developments and cars, and doesn’t care.”