Hikers, residents offer ideas to solve Incline parking woes
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- Created on Wednesday, 14 July 2010 04:38
- Written by Nathan
By KRISTINA IODICE, THE GAZETTE
Calvin Newton, 62, of Colorado Springs has been hiking the Manitou Springs Incline for four years and has noticed a huge increase in traffic — both on the streets and the trail. When he heads to the parking lot at 5:30 a.m., there are only five or six spaces left in the top lot, he said.
“There are no easy answers to any of it, I think,” he said. “It’s one of those cases where we’re loving it to death.”
Newton was among the hikers, residents and officials who met Tuesday night in Manitou Springs City Hall to discuss the parking and traffic issues associated with the Incline — and review possible solutions while offering up additional ideas.
The Manitou Springs Incline may be illegal to hike, but it is immensely popular. Roughly 20 years of use without being monitored has led to massive traffic and parking problems in three lots and along Ruxton Avenue.
“Everyone agrees that the status quo is not the solution,” said Manitou Springs Planning Director Dan Folke.
There are about 263 parking spaces, but they serve residents and visitors to the Incline as well as to Barr Trail and the Pikes Peak Cog Railway.
Many at the meeting favored fees for the lots closest to the trails and some free areas, but also supported trying to expand the lots and using remote parking areas that would likely be connected to Ruxton Avenue by shuttle or a trolley. Limiting parking time for some spaces, as well as ensuring residents’ needs also were considered.
Those at the meeting did not favor reducing parking spaces to allow more room for pedestrian travel.
Any restrictions — and possibly fees — would be enforced only during peak use times.
Alternative access points from nearby trails were promoted as a way to disperse traffic without pricing people out of access. But such decisions must be weighed carefully, some said.
“I don’t want our problem to become someone else’s problem,” said Kolleen Johnson, 34, of Manitou Springs.
About 30 people attended the three-hour meeting — compared to about 120 for the first meeting a few weeks ago.
“We have a lot of the right people here,” said Steve Pouliot, a consultant from Wilson & Co.
Meeting organizers take the public feedback to the Incline Task Force, a group of residents, property owners and city officials working to create a draft management and site development plan for the trail.
That plan will be presented Oct. 21 for public review and comments. The final plan will likely be given to property owners and the Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs City Councils in February or March.
Three entities own portions of the trail: the Cog Railway, Colorado Springs Utilities and the U.S. Forest Service. The three are working on an agreement for legal public access to the Incline.
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