Seventy-three transit workers for the city of Colorado Springs were told Thursday that they will lose their jobs Dec. 31, as the city’s bus system girds for massive cuts in service in 2010, the Colorado Springs Gazette reports.
The employees given their pink slips work for bus operator First Transit, which is contracted by the city to operate its Mountain Metropolitan Transit, said Ryan Hiatt, general manager of Mountain Metropolitan South.
First Transit executes two separate contracts for the city — one contract (the “south garage”) is funded by city general fund money, the other contract (the “north garage”) gets its money from the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority.
Go to the Colorado Springs Gazette to see the entire article.
With deep cuts in Colorado Springs’ bus service over the past year — and more expected in the next couple months — the city next year will look at alternatives ways of funding transit, including perhaps creating a regional transportation district, the Colorado Springs Gazette reports.
The Colorado Springs City Council recently gave informal approval for a study in 2010 on ways to rebuild a crippled bus system with funding separate from the city’s general fund. One idea popular among transit advocates is a regional transportation district, similar to the one that funds Denver’s extensive light-rail and bus system.
The money the Colorado Springs government spends resurfacing roads around the city fell to zero dollars this year, the Colorado Springs Gazette reports.
That’s right — after spending between $4 million and $4.7 million putting down new pavement annually since the start of the decade, the city spent not one dime resurfacing its 1,578 miles of road in 2009, said Streets Division manager Saleem Khattak. Next year is expected to be the same.
It’s one of the more dramatic reductions in city services that started in 2008 and resulted from steep declines in tax revenues.
Go to the Colorado Springs Gazette to see the entire piece, with a graphic on the funding.
Dozens of drivers crashed this weekend in Colorado Springs on an icy I-25 overpass with a built-in road de-icer. I-25 at South Nevada/Tejon has an automatic de-icing system meant to stay ahead of winter weather. According to the Colorado Department of Transportation that system failed Saturday morning, when a major pileup closed the interstate, reports KRDO Channel 13 News.
“The system showed that it had discharged 10 times starting fairly early in the morning,” said CDOT Highway Maintenance Supervisor Gary Heller. “The sensor evaluates the roadway temperature, whether there’s moisture on it and then whether we’re starting to lose friction on the road because of ice. It will continue to fire until it no longer senses the loss of friction on there.”
While the computer system thought the 1,000-foot bridge was being de-iced, one of the 34 de-icer nozzle valves remained open, keeping the other valves from putting out magnesium chloride.
“The computer thought it was doing what it was supposed to be doing.”
Go to KRDO.com Channel 13 News for the entire article.
Hundreds of transit riders and their advocates came together Thursday morning for a rally in downtown Colorado Springs to show their support for the public transportation system. This as the city considers cutting transit’s funding in half next year, Fox 21 reports.
The rally was put on in part by Environment Colorado, The Colorado Public Interest Research Group, and the Green Cities Coalition of the Pikes Peak Region.
All three groups cited a recent study that said in 2008 Colorado Springs saw a record year of transit ridership.
They also highlighted the positive effects of public transportation on the environment.
“It is very important for all people like myself to have the transit system, without it we can not get from our jobs or to school,” Alphie Omar said.
Colorado Springs is holding a public meeting next week to kick off the first phase of construction for the Woodmen Road widening project, says the Colorado Springs Gazette.
The meeting, which starts at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 23, will be in the Jenkins Middle School cafeteria, 6410 Austin Bluffs Parkway.
“The city encourages citizens to attend the public open house for information about the construction process,” the Public Communication’s Office said in a press release. ” Further information will be posted as it is available on the project web site at www.woodmenroad.com.”
The project consists of widening Woodmen to three lanes in each direction from just east of Interstate 25 to just past Academy Boulevard. The project, estimated at $42.7 million, will be funded with $35 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The city of Colorado Springs on Wednesday decided not to pitch a plan to hire its own employees to do work on Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority road projects now being done by consultants and temporary workers, the Colorado Springs Gazette reports.
City staffers asked the Rural Transportation Authority board to withdraw the proposal from its Wednesday meeting agenda. The city could ask the proposal be put back on the RTA board’s agenda next month.
Currently, a RTA policy prevents member governments of the authority from using money raised by a one-cent sales tax to hire regular employees to work on RTA-funded road projects.
Edward Kraemer and Sons has been chosen as the contractor for the Woodmen Road widening project, which will widen Woodmen to three lanes in each direction from east of Interstate 25 to Academy Boulevard in Colorado Springs. The project also will include an interchange at Woodmen and Academy, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette.
Colorado Springs will choose a contractor next week for the $45 million Woodmen Road widening project.
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