For commuters who use Happy Canyon Road, smile, you’re on candid
camera.
As part of the ongoing research for an alternate route from US
85 to I-25, Douglas County is taking your picture. With cameras
mounted at the east and west ends of Happy Canyon Road, the county
is conducting an origin/destination study to record the type of
traffic that uses Happy Canyon Road.
The study is being conducted by a consulting firm used by the
county and the Town of Castle Rock in their ongoing efforts to find
an alternate route for an extension of Meadows Boulevard.
The effort to build an extension of Meadows Boulevard to I-25 is
nearing its one-year mark.
Castle Pines Village residents objected to Castle Rock’s plans
to end the extension at US 85, or Santa Fe Drive, with concerns the
resulting traffic would choose Happy Canyon Road as a route to
I-25. Negotiations between residents of Castle Pines Village and
interested governmental entities began after residents promised
litigation if planners did not find an alternate route to relieve
traffic on Happy Canyon Road.
Road officials with Castle Rock, Douglas County and the state of
Colorado agreed it made more sense to take the Meadows extension
all the way to the interstate. Still in question is where on US 85
the access to the interstate will be built.
The origin/destination study is a way to tell planners what kind
of traffic is using Happy Canyon Road, which runs between US 85 and
I-25, said Larry Corcoran, Douglas County traffic engineer
manager.
License plate information is recorded at each end of the road to
see whether vehicles that enter at one end immediately come out the
other, or find their destination within the upscale community of
Castle Pines Village.
The cameras record the date and time a vehicle enters at one end
and whether and when it comes out at the other end of Happy Canyon.
The point is to find out how many people use Happy Canyon Road as a
connector between US 85 and I-25.
The license plate information is not recorded, reported or used
in any other way, said Wendy Holmes, Douglas County public affairs
director.
“It’s strictly for behavior comparison,” Holmes said.
Sedalia resident Robert Estes is one whose behavior reflects
those travelers who use Happy Canyon Road as a commuter
thoroughfare. Estes has lived in Sedalia for 20 years and uses
Happy Canyon each day to get from his home in Sedalia to his job
north of Denver.
Whether planners establish an alternate route to I-25, Estes’
main concern is whether the county will eventually make Happy
Canyon Road a private road, a long-held wish for Castle Pines
Village residents.
“Other than the fact I don’t like my license plate information
gathered, we were just concerned it’s another way to justify
closing Happy Canyon for Castle Pines,” Estes said.
The county has no plans to abandon Happy Canyon Road, Corcoran
said, but hopes to find a way to relieve traffic on the scenic
route.
“A permanent closure [of Happy Canyon] is not something the
county has ever supported at this point,” Corcoran said. “We’re
just not interested in seeing volume increase.”
The cost of the origin/destination study is $4,500 and the
cameras were expected to remain in place for about 10 days.
Corcoran did not know when results from the study would be
available for review, but said ongoing environmental studies could
take up to nine months for completion.