Funding has been secured for the new 208-parking-space Park-N-Ride facility in Falcon, Colorado, which represents the first such facility owned and maintained by El Paso County. Jennifer Irvine, county engineer with EPC, said although a firm start date for construction has not been set, the county hopes to begin later this year or early 2019.Sources for the funds include the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority and a local match from EPC and the bridge fund with money provided by the federal government, Irvine said. ìThe federal funding we received is also designated for adjacent road improvements,î she said.According to the countyís project design map, the Falcon Park-N-Ride will run adjacent to Old Meridian Road, south of Highway 24. The northern-most boundary will be alongside a newly constructed extension of Swingline Road, from where it intersects with Old Meridian Road to where Swingline will intersect with a newly constructed New Meridian Road. New Meridian Road will extend from Highway 24 to Falcon Highway and provide the western-most boundary for the Park-N-Ride.ìThere has been a lot of good planning in this area,î Irvine said. ìIt started with an overall realignment plan of Meridian Road between Woodmen and Falcon Highway that emerged in the late 1990s. That was approved by the (El Paso County) Board of County Commissioners, who then adopted a sketch plan for the area in 2001; and a master plan was completed in 2004.îThe plans and location for the Park-N-Ride emerged in 2003, through a joint effort that included the City of Colorado Springs, EPC and the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments, Irvine said.As part of the Park-N-Ride project, Irvine said the county will also undertake improvements to nearby intersections, including removal of the traffic signal at Highway 24 and Old Meridian Road. That intersection will be a right-in, right-out from Highway 24 onto Old Meridian Road; and a new traffic signal will be placed at the intersection of New Meridian Road and Highway 24, she said.ìMoving the signal puts a greater distance between the existing signal at Woodmen and the new one at New Meridian,î Irvine said. ìIt will provide a higher level of safety.îSafety at the Park-N-Ride facility is also a priority, Irvine said. There will be lighting and additional accommodations are planned in the event a bus service ever comes back out to Falcon, she said. The EPC sheriffís office and the Colorado Springs police department are required to provide support for the facility because the site is part of Colorado Springs and also surrounded by unincorporated EPC land.ìI told the Colorado Springs City Council that I would be following up with law enforcement to make sure that everybody is on the same page regarding this location,î Irvine said. ìI have not done that yet but we still have plenty of time to make sure that happens. I am confident that we can use our relationships (with the EPCSO and CSPD) to make sure the right things happen here.îOnce the Park-N-Ride is built, Irvine said the county hopes that people who are currently parking in various business parking lots to carpool with other residents will use the new Park-N-Ride instead.ìThis is a good example of collaboration and coordination between our jurisdictions for a project that will really benefit the community overall,î she said. ìGrowth out in Falcon is really high so we are trying to make sure we are planning for the future.îBut some residents arenít so keen on the Park-N-Ride.Carrie Bauer is the president of the Falcon Vista Homeowners Association, and she said her community has been concerned about the project from the start. Falcon Vista is located east of Old Meridian Road, adjacent to the Park-N-Ride site.Bauer said the two main concerns, aside from thinking the project is not a good fit for the area, are adequate lighting of the facility and concerns about which law enforcement agency will be responsible to respond in an emergency situation. Bauer said she was glad to hear the county had addressed the lighting concern based on Irvine’s statements, but she has been waiting for almost three months to hear about the law enforcement issue.”The law enforcement agency that is responsible needs to be nailed down now,” she said. “If they (city or county law enforcement) do not know that it is their responsibility, they are not going to show up. I want something in writing about who is going to respond, with contact information so I can pass that on to the community. They need to know who to contact when something happens.î
