CDOT to build roundabout at US 24/Judge Orr Road intersection in Falcon area
Scott Harrison
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — Currently, the closest thing to a highway roundabout in southern Colorado was built several years ago, on an exit ramp at the junction of US 50 and Highway 115 in Fremont County.
But the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) is preparing to construct a traffic circle on a major highway.
Work will start in the fall of 2027 at the intersection of US 24 and Judge Orr Road — a route experiencing heavier traffic due to continued growth in the Falcon community.
The project will last for two years and cost between $10 million and $15 million.
CDOT said that the Colorado State Patrol (CSP) asked CDOT to take action because of the frequency of speeding and crashes at the intersection.
The roundabout construction requires that CDOT close the US 24 intersection at Blue Gill Drive, a mile-long neighborhood road slightly west of the roundabout location.
Blue Gill also connects to the highway farther south, and CDOT said that the east intersection will be moved to an undetermined location.
CDOT said that initially, crews will stripe the roundabout for one lane of traffic in each direction, but it will eventually have two lanes.
The alighnment of Judge Orr Road skews the intersection, CDOT said, making the roundabout design more challenging.
The agency said that the overall goal is not necessarily to slow traffic down, but to keep drivers safe.
Keith McCafferty, a former mayor of Ramah, in the northeastern corner of El Paso County, said that he doesn’t like the roundabout plan and would rather see less-expensive measures, such as adding turn lanes and passing lanes.
“I can’t see how the school buses, the semi trucks, and the construction vehicles are going to navigate a roundabout there,” he said.
CDOT has yet to decide if it will schedule a public meeting on the roundabout project.