COLORADO SPRINGS — A petition to create a roundabout for the Nevada Ave and Platte Ave intersection where the William Palmer statue sits has been gaining traction within the Colorado Springs community.
According to the online petition, from 2015 to 2019, 21 of 25 crashes were caused by left-hand turns an adding a roundabout to this intersection would fix this problem instead of relying on drivers to notice the no left turn signs that the city put in place last year.
Colorado Springs Police Department Accident Data
The petition also states that according to the Federal Highway Association, roundabouts reduce fatalities by 90% and injuries by 76%.
Those who made the petition voice that they believe a roundabout would improve the look of the intersection by placing the William Palmer statue in the middle of a green space instead of offsetting it by pavement.
Background:
As we previously reported in September 2023, the intersection where the statue of William Palmer sits has been the source of much controversy over the years due to safety concerns.
WATCH: Family who lost loved one speaks on intersection change
At the time, data from the Colorado Springs Police had shown that there had been 80 crashes at that intersection since 2018.
On Wednesday, September 6, the city tried to rectify these safety issues by installing no left turn signs for east and westbound drivers at this intersection.
According to City Traffic Engineer, Todd Frisbie, that change was inspired by a study conducted in August 2022 that analyzed crash data from 2015 to 2019. This study included data from hundreds of crashes from different intersections across the city and resulted in safety recommendations for 74 of these intersections.
Numbers from crashes at the Nevada and Platte intersection showed that 38.5%of these crashes involved a left turn and out of the left-turn crashes, an overwhelming amount involved east and westbound cars.
"The data was showing that drivers were having a hard time making that left turn," said Frisbie. "The number of crashes we've seen is double than what we would expect in that crash pattern, and so that's what drove us in the end to make this change."
According to Frisbie, it cost $1,500 to add these no left turn signs.
Bobbie Romero, daughter of Isadore Micheal Romero— who was riding his motorcycle when he was struck and killed at the dangerous intersection last April— has said that her and her family agree that this change is a step in the right direction, but that the statue should be moved from the intersection.
Frisbie said that the city is not considering removing the statue.
He also said that anytime city engineers make safety changes to an intersection, the department will revisit the data one to two years later to determine if further action should be taken.
WATCH: Family calls for change following deadly crash
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