ConnectCOS

The draft ConnectCOS Transportation Plan is ready for public review! The draft Plan reflects more than 50 meetings with the public, elected officials, boards and committees; more than 2,500 unique comments and survey responses; and more than two years of technical analysis and plan development. The draft Plan is the first Colorado Springs city-wide multimodalIncluding more than one mode of transportation. For example, a facility that accommodates lanes for motorized vehicles, bike lanes, sidewalks, and transit stops. transportation plan in two decades. ConnectCOS explores how transportation investments can help the city realize the vision developed from PlanCOS, the City’s Comprehensive PlanA comprehensive plan is a guiding document that provides a framework for city policies and priorities regarding the physical development of the city. It is a long-range vision of what we want our city to become and is a tool for making decisions about how that vision should be achieved. It outlines strategic steps to make the vision a reality and provides targeted and strategic planning of the physical development of the city.. 

Review the March 2023 Draft Plan

• March 2023 Draft ConnectCOS Transportation Plan
  • Appendix A - ConnectCOS Project List
  • Appendix B - Critical Corridor Portraits.
  • Appendix C - Reference Maps
  • Appendix D - Community Engagement Summary (in progress)
• Draft ConnectCOS Transportation System Assessment Working Paper 

A high-level overview of the document is provided below. 

Public Feedback

The formalized comment period on the Draft ConnectCOS Plan is closed as of December 12, 2022. You may still provide a comment using the comment box below. All comments will be reviewed by the project team and City Staff.

Please check back for a comprehensive open house summary coming soon.

In May and June, 2022, the City of Colorado Springs and ConnectCOS project team hosted six in-person open houses, one in each council district. Three of the open houses included information from the Platte Avenue Corridor Study. Participants were invited to explore different information developed over the life of the project, ask project team questions, and share their feedback. We invite you to explore ConnectCOS and the Platte Avenue Corridor Study in greater depth. For your convenience we offer an introductory video highlighting the questions our team set out to answer, what was found, and potential ideas for the future. In addition to the videos, you’ll find PDFs summarizing each open house station.  Once you’ve reviewed the open house boards and project video, we have developed a survey to let your voice on what you liked, disliked, and what was missing from the proposed project.

Video

The video linked below is a recorded slideshow. Please note, the audio requires permission from you to play. You will need to interact with the presentation by hitting pause/play or skipping to the next slide at least once to give the browser permission to play audio.

Watch the video exploring ConnectCOS

Station Boards

Please use the links below to navigate to each station’s board. The PDFs linked below are the same material presented at each in-person open house.

ConnectCOS

• Process Introduction
• Technical Analysis
• What We Heard
• Mapping by Mode
  • Transit
  • Drive
  • Active Transportation
• Next Steps 
• PPRTA

Survey

The recent open house survey has been closed. To provide additional comments, please email the project team at connectcos@coloradosprings.gov. Please check back soon for the comprehensive open house summary.

Colorado Springs is launching a citywide visionary transportation study, ConnectCOS to help create a transportation plan that reflects the evolving needs of our community

The city has changed a lot since the last update to our major transportation plan (the Intermodal Transportation Plan) almost 20 years ago. Now is the time to review our current transportation system and develop a plan to ensure an efficient, accessible, safe, and well-connected network for people who drive, walk, bike and take public transit.

PlanCOS, the City’s comprehensive plan that was adopted by City Council in 2019, outlined big ideas to shape the future of our city. ConnectCOS will lay out the next 20 years of transportation planning, infrastructure, and improvements in Colorado Springs, bringing to life the goals, ideas and community values established in PlanCOS.

ConnectCOS is a year-long study that will involve a significant technical analysis, and robust community engagement effort, to identify and prioritize short and long-term transportation projects to ensure that people who live, work and play in Colorado Springs have an opportunity to participate in the study.

Draft Project Goals

There are six major goal areas that build on the full range of opportunities identified in ConnectCOS:

• Efficient
• Sustainable
• Reliable
• Accessible
• Connected
• Safe

Over the next several months the project team will continue to refine the goals of ConnectCOS to meet the needs of the community. Please check back soon to take our transportation survey that will help inform the final goals.  

Priority Corridors

The six-mile Platte Avenue Corridor, that extends from I-25 to Powers Boulevard, has been selected as the first Priority Corridor for analysis through the ConnectCOS study. For more information about this corridor study and to participate visit www.ColoradoSprings.gov/PlatteAveCorrirdor.

ConnectCOS is being built on a framework of six goal identified by stakeholder and public input as areas where performance of the existing transportation system should be improved.  This framework guides the analysis process and the development of potential projects and other actions that will improve system performance.  The resulting actions will create a transportation system that is more safe, equitable, sustainable, efficiently reliable, accessible, and connected.

Safe

This goal area reflects a paramount desire of the community to have a safe transportation system. A safety goal of no fatalities or serious injuries involving transportation can be applied to identify and implement countermeasures. 

The ConnectCOS goal framework also considers a wider range of considerations to looks at safety from personal and community perspective.  Example questions include:

• Do our transportation systems provide personal safety for those accessing mobility systems including those using trails, transit stops, and parking garages.
• Is our transportation system resilient enough to facilitate emergency and natural disaster response?

Equitable

This goal area captures the concept that investments should enhance mobility and accessibility for everyone.  This concept includes application of limited resources to distribute and adjust the type of investment to be appropriate to user needs.  The term is not the same as equality, but more importantly recognizes that people, neighborhoods, and communities have differing levels and types of needs.

Sustainable

A sustainable transportation system supports the three pillars of sustainability:

• Economic – A system that is affordable and provides individual and community economic benefit
• Environmental – A system that supports, protects, and enhances our natural environment including air quality
• Social – A system that supports our community’s goal for quality of life, health, and well being

The ConnectCOS goal framework considers these elements to identify needs and develop appropriate solutions.

Efficiently Reliable

This unique two-word goal area reflects the balance necessary between having a perfectly reliable system and being efficient with limited resources.  Both aspects are desired but are usually in conflict.  For example, a roadway corridor that never experiences slow-downs or congestion may be desirable, but the necessary costs and impacts of building such facilities may not be the most efficient.

Accessible

An accessible transportation system as viewed in the ConnectCOS goal framework provides intuitive choices for all users.  It is easy to find your way across town or across the intersection regardless of your mode of travel.  Connections between modes are comfortable including those who transition from driving to being a pedestrian to get from your parking to your destination. 

Connected

A connected transportation system enables all users to move from homes to services, work to recreation areas, and businesses to shopping destinations.  It also connects us to a larger economy beyond the Pikes Peak region.  A truly connected system also connects to adjacent land uses, rather than conflict with them.  Transportation choices influence land uses both positively and negatively and the right investments in transportation will positively shape our city’s future.

• April 2021 Community Office Hours Summary
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Project Timeline
• The Draft ConnectCOS Transportation System Assessment Working Paper is a working document that will continue to evolve between now and ConnectCOS project completion. This document may be updated as the ConnectCOS project team works though each of the remaining major technical milestones. An executive summary has been developed to share a high-level overview of the current findings related to the state of mobility in Colorado Springs.
• Critical Corridor Portraits. There are over 150 potential transportation improvement projects and studies that have been identified by ConnectCOS. To make reviewing these projects easier, they have been organized into Critical Corridor Portraits. These Portraits show general information about each critical corridor, list the ConnectCOS projects and studies associated with the corridor, and show maps of projects to illustrate how projects fit together and how they fit with other existing infrastructure.

Historical Documents

Continuing East-West Mobility town hall

A second town hall was held Saturday, February 4, 2023 to continue discussion of a potential feasibility study addressing east-west mobility.

View the 2/4/23 townhall video

East-West Mobility town hall: including consideration of the Constitution Avenue extension

A townhall was held January 21, 2023 to discuss a potential study addressing East-West mobility for the Fillmore Street and Uintah Street corridors.

The following were discussed:

• Consider widening Fillmore Street
• Extending Constitution Avenue from Union Boulevard to I-25 utilizing existing right-of-way
• Maintaining the current roadway configuration with the understanding that traffic congestion and delay will likely increase

View the 1/21/23 townhall video

Additional Resources

• FAQs and study guidelines
• Corridor map
• Rock Island right of way
• Public comments
• Public feedback change

January 2022 Virtual Engagement

The public meeting scheduled to take place on December 15, 2021, was cancelled due to extreme weather and power outages across the City of Colorado Springs. In response, and in an effort to keep the public informed about the ConnectCOS project, a recording of the meeting content is now available for public viewing. The recording includes the information and content that was originally scheduled to be presented.

The goals of this recording are to:

• Share information for the ConnectCOS project
• Review analysis to-date, recommendations, and potential ConnectCOS projects
• Provide a look ahead and how the public can continue to contribute feedback

Watch the meeting

View the Presentation Slides 

View the Critical Corridor Portraits - which outline the potential transportation improvement projects for each of the identified critical corridors in ConnectCOS 

August 2021 Survey Results

The ConnectCOS digital community survey opened to the public on July 15, 2021 and closed on August 8, 2021. More than 800 people responded to the survey; view the demographic summary of our survey respondents here. Colorado Springs residents were invited to provide input during this timeframe on draft scenarios and priorities to improve the city’s transportation plan as part of ConnectCOS, a citywide visionary transportation study.

Residents who participated in the digital survey provided perspectives and response towards strategies for enhancing the city’s transportation system to create more safe, efficient, accessible, equitable, sustainable and connected modes of travel.

The results from this public survey are included in the link below and will help shape the draft citywide transportation plan that is anticipated to be ready for public review in early 2022.

View ConnectCOS Survey Summary Report

February 2021 Public Meeting

Thursday, February 18

We hope you were able to attend the virtual public meeting and learn more about the unique transportation needs and challenges facing the City of Colorado Springs as we continue to grow. For example, although most people travel by car, many recognize the need to get around town by bike, foot or transit. The 90-minute meeting provided other valuable input collected from a recent community-wide survey, as well as a high-level project overview. If you missed the meeting, materials are now available below. 

View Meeting Presentation | View Meeting Summary

Watch the Meeting

September 2020 Survey Results

Approximately 1,700 Colorado Springs residents responded to the ConnectCOS transportation survey from August 19 – September 21, 2020 (thank you for your participation!). A summary of the results is now available for your review. The survey focused on questions regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the City’s current transportation system and solicited information related to travel habits and needs of our community. The results will support ConnectCOS planning efforts to establish a 20-year plan to meet evolving mobility needs of our community. Key highlights from the survey include:

• 98% of survey respondents have at least one vehicle, however, 65% of respondents feel it is extremely important to have transportation choices such as walking, biking, and taking the bus.
• The community identified the presence of numerous trails as a top strength of the City’s transportation network.
• Over 50% of respondents feel that it is easy to walk or use a wheelchair to get to the places they need to go within the City.

This survey is the first of many as the ConnectCOS project team continues to engage the community throughout 2021. Full results from this first survey will be shared at our upcoming virtual public meeting, scheduled for February 18, 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Make sure to register here to learn more about the project!

The ConnectCOS Community Advisory Committee (CAC) will serve as a sounding board and critical conduit between the broader community and project team during this collaborative transportation planning process. The representatives (as seen on the roster below) are from a wide variety of sectors and organizations based in Colorado Springs. They will help share project information to their networks and provide key insights at major technical milestones to assist the City in decision-making. The role and commitment of the CAC is an invaluable element of this year-long planning effort.

• CAC Meeting Summary - October 12, 2021
• CAC Meeting Summary - July 19, 2021
• CAC Meeting Summary - April 12, 2021
• CAC Meeting Summary - Dec. 3, 2020
• CAC Meeting Summary - June 24, 2020

CAC Roster