Two-way tango on Tejon Street in Colorado Springs

Some merchants and delivery drivers are concerned about traffic snarls, longer delivery times and driver safety when Tejon Street is converted to two-way on Monday.

Daily traffic on Tejon, between Bijou Street and Vermijo Avenue, is expected to increase by 60 percent after the conversion. During the morning rush hour, when most deliveries to merchants occur, the projected traffic volume increase is 74 percent, according to a study conducted by BBC Research and Consulting, on behalf of the Downtown Partnership.

Delivery driver Victor Rael knows firsthand the dangers of unloading trucks on Tejon.

"I had a car drive up my loading ramp while I was in the truck stacking cases of wine for Vintages (Wine and Spirits)," he said. "She said the sun blocked her vision."

Rael drives for Beverage Distributors Co. of Aurora, and downtown Colorado Springs has been his route for more than two years.

Since many of his stops are restaurants and nightclubs between Kiowa Street and Colorado Avenue, he is concerned about his safety and delivery times once the street is converted to two-way.

"A lot of my stops are right here in the middle of Tejon," he said. "It's going to be a pain."

In the "Key Findings" section of the BBC report, some potential issues that needed to be addressed included "traffic obstructions caused by the downtown shuttle or delivery vehicles."

Transportation engineer Todd Frisbie of Felsburg, Holt and Ullevig said that the city has addressed that issue by providing a turn- and delivery-lane.

"There will be some interactions between delivery trucks and cars, but they'll have to do their best to work with it," he said. "I'm not too concerned about delivery trucks. We're dealing with urban traffic and urban speeds downtown."

However, despite projections made in the BBC study, Lt. Steve Tobias of the Colorado Springs Police Department's Gold Hill Division said that he doesn't anticipate much increased traffic after the conversion.

"I think a lot of people will use Nevada or Cascade if they don't have business on Tejon," he said. "The city's traffic engineering department did all the studies on traffic flow and volume and decided what would be best for Tejon."

But the police department will do an analysis of traffic flow, deliveries, parking and turn movements immediately after the conversion.

"We'll have extra officers patrolling Tejon after the conversion," he said. "If we identify any issues or problematic areas, we will discuss them with city engineers."

Whether traffic flow increases significantly or not, Jerry Mayes, Colorado Springs Coca-cola sales center manager, said he has no plans to change routes or delivery times. Since most customers want deliveries before 9 or 10 a.m., he doesn't anticipate much disruption of traffic flow.

"It will be an adjustment period for the drivers," Mayes said, "But safety is not an issue -- they are trained to check mirrors and follow safety guidelines."

Dave Krauth, the city's principal traffic engineer, said that Tejon Street will be re-striped to change from three southbound lanes to one southbound lane and one northbound lane separated by a two-way left-turn lane, which will be designated mid-block as a loading and unloading zone.

Krauth said commute times on Tejon between Vermijo and Platte avenues are expected to increase by less than two minutes, but he doesn't think delivery drivers will encounter anything different than what they already deal with.

"A lot of delivery vehicles park in the middle already," Krauth said. "They'll have the same issues after the conversion as they did before."

Nolan Schriner, president of NES Inc., an urban design and planning consulting firm, said he questions whether traffic will actually increase 74 percent, but, regardless, the two-way conversion is not hazardous for traffic or delivery drivers.

"People have to understand that downtowns are supposed to be congested. If it's not -- then that's a problem. In a downtown area, people are aware -- so it's not a safety issue," Schriner said.

However, Bryan Allery, a traffic engineer with Colorado Department of Transportation, said that any time there is an increase in traffic, "accidents have the potential to increase."

To mitigate potential safety and congesting problems, Krauth said that some of the merchants in the area requested changing the direction of the westbound alley that runs between Nevada Avenue and Tejon Street.

Once Tejon is converted, if there is a truck parked in the middle of Tejon, a large truck would probably not be able to pull out of the alley and would have to wait for the truck on Tejon to move.

A conversion of the alley is in the "discussion stage." If the alley is converted to eastbound, then trucks could easily turn right onto southbound Nevada, Krauth said.

Stefan Flores, kitchen manager of the Ritz Grill, which is adjacent to the alley, said that deliveries are already difficult.

"Trucks will be stacked up in the center lane trying to get through," he said. "Imagine an 18-wheeler trying to turn out of our alley with a truck already in the center lane."