El Paso County Board of County Commissioners voted Nov. 26 to approve the county transportation department’s revised plan to improve Hodgen Road.The plan calls for a 100-foot right of way (the county already has 60 feet), two 12-foot wide asphalt lanes and 4 feet of asphalt shoulder on both sides of the road. The project is budgeted at $15 million: $12 million for construction and $3 million for moving utilities and acquiring rights of way.John McCarty, county transportation department director, said the $15 million should be enough to widen Hodgen Road from Highway 83 to Black Forest Road, a distance of 3.8 miles.The project will be funded by the 1 percent Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority sales tax, approved by voters in 2004.The transportation department’s original plan called for widening Hodgen Road its full 10.5-mile length from Highway 83 to Eastonville Road at a cost of $32.3 million that included 8-foot wide asphalt shoulders, or at a cost of $23.6 million that included 4-foot wide asphalt shoulders.Before the commissioners voted, Amy Phillips, representing the Black Forest land use and transportation committees, spoke on behalf of an alternative plan.”You should be concentrating safety improvements on the entire corridor,” Phillips said.Phillips recommended making sight distance improvements, placing stop signs on Hodgen Road at Vollmer Road, adding reflectors at intersections and texturing the road’s centerline and edges to prevent the high number of single-car rollover accidents that occur on Hodgen Road because of its narrow shoulders.”CDOT says textured lines are an effective way of keeping drivers from drifting out of their lane,” Phillips said.Using crash data provided by the transportation department, Phillips identified the intersections of Hodgen Road and Black Forest Road, Thompson Road, Remington Road and Goshawk Road as having the most injury-related accidents since 2001.McCarty said the crash data provided to the Black Forest transportation committee erroneously put the number of injury-related accidents at Highway 83 and Hodgen Road at 14, instead of the correct number of 28.With 28 injury-related accidents at Highway 83; improving Hodgen Road for 3.8 miles will address the section of road with the highest number of injury-related accidents and the highest traffic volume, McCarty said.Black Forest resident Judy von Ahlefeldt asked the board to approve a plan that would improve sight distance at the five most critical blind hills, install snow fencing to prevent drifting snow, add blinking yellow lights at intersections and reduce the speed limit to 45 mph in treed areas and 50 to 55 mph in open areas.McCarty said studies show lowering the speed limit does not cause drivers to slow down.Commissioner Wayne Williams asked McCarty to put up no passing and icy condition signs, and McCarty agreed. McCarty had earlier agreed to remove truck route signs and promised they would be taken down within a week. McCarty also agreed to review the Hodgen Road speed limit signs for consistency.Black Forest resident Pamela Bertram supported the installation of a culvert as a wildlife crossing. “A lot of deer/car collisions go unreported because people don’t want their insurance companies involved,” she said. Von Ahlefeldt estimated the cost of a culvert at $150,000.McCarty said fencing would be required to encourage wildlife to use a culvert, and there is no money in the budget for fencing.Latigo resident Larry Tobias spoke in favor of the transportation department’s revised plan as a start at widening the entire length of Hodgen Road. “Each day, when I take that road, it is amazing to see the amount of traffic. A paved shoulder would allow for a bicycle lane and allow broken-down vehicles to park on the side,” he said.Commissioner Douglas Bruce asked McCarty if the $15 million budget includes an allowance for construction inflation, which has been running at 5 percent a year. McCarty said it does not. “We will get better numbers when we put it out to bid. Land acquisition and utility moving costs also aren’t known,” McCarty said.Bruce also questioned the wisdom of improving 3.8 miles of Hodgen Road when there is little likelihood that funds will be available to improve the remainder of Hodgen Road.”We should do the best we reasonably can as far as we can, and then address other issues as funding allows,” McCarty said. The board agreed and voted 4 to 1 in favor of the project. Bruce cast the no vote.
