The transportation network within the Pikes Peak Region is composed of roadways, transit systems, bicycle and pedestrian networks, railroads, and airports. These facilities are largely operated and maintained by local governments, CDOT, and private companies.
The LRTP provides a holistic view of the transportation system and supports those entities that operate and maintain the transportation networks. A successful network allows the movement of people and goods safely and efficiently throughout the region and beyond, taking into account the variety of modes available to users.
Roadway Network
The NHS encompasses vital roadways crucial to the economy, defense, and overall mobility, connecting places and people across the country. Functional classification is pivotal in categorizing roads based on their role in transportation networks, influencing design standards, funding eligibility, and performance evaluations. Only public roads that are classified higher than minor collector are eligible for the federal funding included in this LRTP. It should be noted that these refer only to road classifications and no multimodal facilities. This classification system distinguishes between various road types, including the following as defined by the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT)
- Interstates: The highest classification of roadways in the United States. They are designed for high-speed, long-distance travel with limited access points, typically separated by medians or barriers. Interstates provide crucial links between major cities and regions while supporting passenger and freight transportation.
- Freeways and Expressways: Similar to Interstates in design but may vary regionally in terminology and specific design elements. They feature controlled access with ramps and limited points of entry and exit. These roadways are designed for efficient and rapid traffic, often connecting major urban areas and providing important links in regional transportation networks.
- Other Principal Arterials: Serve major centers of metropolitan areas and provide high mobility both within urban areas and through rural regions. Unlike freeways and expressways, they often allow direct access to adjacent land uses through intersections and driveways. They are critical for accommodating both local and through traffic movements.
- Minor Arterials: Facilitate shorter trips within urban areas, connecting to higher-level arterials like Interstates and Other Principal Arterials. They support intracommunity continuity, providing access to neighborhoods, business districts, and local amenities. Minor arterials may also serve local bus routes and are designed to handle moderate traffic volumes efficiently.
- Major Collectors: Gather traffic from local roads and feed it into the arterial network. They typically have longer routes, lower densities of access points (such as driveways), and higher speed limits than minor collectors. Major collectors are extremely useful in facilitating regional travel patterns and supporting transportation between communities.
- Minor Collectors: Distribute local traffic within neighborhoods and communities, connecting residential areas to major and minor arterials. They have more frequent access points than major collectors, allowing easier local access to residences, businesses, and community facilities. Minor collectors generally have lower traffic volumes and shorter travel distances than major collectors.
- Local roads: Designed primarily to provide direct access to abutting properties, serving local traffic needs within neighborhoods and communities. Local roads typically discourage through traffic and are not intended for long-distance travel. They are a crucial part of supporting connectivity and providing access to local services and amenities.
Functional classification plays a central role in transportation planning and management, underscored by federal legislation that ties funding eligibility to these classifications. State DOTs update and maintain these classifications, involving extensive collaboration with metropolitan and rural planning agencies, local officials, and federal oversight bodies like the FHWA Division Offices. Advances in geospatial technology and travel demand forecasting have facilitated more precise classification and planning, enhancing cost-effectiveness and analysis capabilities.
Figure 4-1 depicts the roadway network in the Pikes Peak Region by functional classification. More specific details can be found on the PPACG Roadway Network Map, which is available on the PPACG website. This dataset, compiled from various sources including the CDOT and the NHS data, provides essential planning and mapping attributes crucial for regional transportation planning. As of November 2024, the PPACG roadway network includes:
- Interstate: 46.9 miles
- Freeways and Expressways: 48.7 miles
- Other Principal Arterial: 225 miles
- Minor Arterial: 413.8 miles
- Major Collector: 199.3 miles
- Minor Collector: 14.8 miles
- Local Road: 65.9 miles*
*This number does not account for all local roads in the region. Local roads were only included in the PPACG roadway network if they were designed as a collector or above and serve to connect major roads in the network as their purpose in the network is too great to omit.
Figure 4-1: Roadway Network
Regionally Significant Corridors
In 2022, PPACG developed a CMP, which defines a systematic approach to define the extent and duration of congestion, determine causes, identify a range of management strategies, and evaluate effectiveness of implemented strategies.
As part of the CMP, PPACG defined four facility classifications, which were based on data-driven criteria or which are similarly designated by adopted jurisdictional plans. Identifying these critical corridors allows jurisdictions to focus efforts on congestion management. Congestion was a component of the scoring used to select LRTP projects.
Strategic Commercial and Employment Corridor
- Similar designation in an adopted jurisdictional plan, or meet the following conditions:
- Average daily traffic (ADT) count above 10,000; and
- Commercial area comprising at least 25% of the total area within a ¼ mi; and
- Included in the PPACG travel demand model
Freight Corridor
- Similar designation in an adopted jurisdictional plan, or meet the following conditions:
- Identified as a freight corridor in a federal or state adopted plan/map;
- Connections to air or rail cargo facilities to include military; or
- Construction standard specifically for freight traffic with an ADT above 10,000; and
- Included in the Pikes Peak Regional transportation demand model
- Or other NHS routes identified as secondary freight corridors by the owning jurisdiction
Critical Multimodal Corridor
- Similar designation in an adopted jurisdictional plan, or meet the following conditions:
- ADT count above 10,000;
- Transit route; or
- Provides bike lanes or provides a parallel bike boulevard or multi-use trail; and multi-use shoulder
- Included in the PPACG travel demand model
Multimodal Hub
- Similar designation in an adopted jurisdictional plan, or meet the following conditions:
- Facilities for the changing of modes for people or goods:
- Park and rides
- Transit centers
- Freight facilities – air and rail cargo
- Included in the PPACG travel demand model
- Facilities for the changing of modes for people or goods:
The following pages contain maps of these corridors and hubs. These maps are not intended to convey jurisdictional plans or planned improvements, nor are they intended to identify gaps.
Figure 4-2: Strategic Commercial and Employment Corridors
Figure 4-3: Critical Multimodal Corridors and Hubs
Figure 4-4: Freight Corridors
Additional information about elements of the transportation network are included in this chapter and their standalone plans and studies. The regionally significant corridors were used during the project selection process for this LRTP along with local plans and engineering and planning expertise. These corridors were based on data available at the time the CMP was developed and may be updated as needed.
Traffic and Congestion
The CMP defined types of congestion in the Pikes Peak Region and identifies areas of recurring congestion. However, since adoption of the CMP, access to improved data has allowed PPACG to better analyze congestion in the region.
Recurring Congestion
For this LRTP, PPACG utilized StreetLight Data, Inc. for traffic analysis data. The recurring congestion map in Figure 4-5 shows the vehicle hours of delay (VHD) on the major roads within the region. Analyses were run for the evening hours of 5:00 to 6:00 pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays throughout the year. Roads analyzed were classified based on VHD for all the FHWA classified roads of types 1 – Interstate, 2 – Freeways and Expressways, and 3 – Other Principal Arterial. Results were exported with the VHD.
Figure 4-5: Recurring Congestion
VHD is the amount of delay vehicles experienced in congestion where congestion is the speed of a vehicle not traveling at free flow speed. StreetLight exports tabular data for each road segment, which was joined to the geographic information system (GIS) data and utilized to create the recurring congestion map. High to low VHD is shown in the map using changing values from red to green with red signifying the highest VHD.
The areas of highest recurring congestion include I25 between Woodmen Road and Cimarron Street; I25 between South Academy Boulevard and US85/57; portions of Powers Boulevard (CO21), particularly between Dublin Boulevard and North Carefree Circle; and portions of North Nevada Avenue, Academy Boulevard, Marksheffel Road, and US24.
Non-Recurring Congestion
According to the FHWA, “About half of congestion is caused by temporary disruptions that take away part of the roadway from use – or “nonrecurring” congestion. The three main causes of nonrecurring congestion are: incidents ranging from a flat tire to an overturned hazardous material truck (25 percent of congestion), work zones (10 percent of congestion), and weather (15 percent of congestion).”
One of the most frequent causes of non-recurring congestion are traffic crashes. The locations and occurrences of crashes are discussed in more detail in the Safety discussion in Chapter 5.
Traffic Generators
In addition to the recurring and non-recurring congestion, transportation planning should take into consideration the overall travel within the region. To do this, PPACG mapped the average annual daily traffic (AADT) for each transportation analysis zone (TAZ) in the region.
TAZs are areas used in transportation planning modeling. More information about TAZs within the Pikes Peak Region can be found in Chapter 6.
AADT is commonly used to provide a baseline understand of how busy a roadway or the transportation network is. The AADT includes all vehicular trips for an entire year, and is calculated by dividing the total traffic volume by the number of days in the year. Figure 4-6 shows the TAZs within the region by AADT in 2021, which was the most recent data available. This provides planners with a basic understanding of the areas with the most traffic volume. The areas with the largest traffic volume often correlate to large employment and commercial areas.
Figure 4-6: AADT
The AADT alone is not sufficient, however. Understanding locations of major traffic generators is also critical to transportation planning. The following paragraphs provide information related to some of those areas.
Military Installations
The Pikes Peak Region is home to five military installations: Fort Carson, the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA), and three Space Force installations that are part of Space Base Delta 1 (SBD 1): Peterson Space Force Base (SFB), Schriever SFB, and Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station (SFS). These installations have an estimated associated population of 150,000, which includes military personnel, contract employees, and their families. Detailed information about these installations and their transportation needs is included in Chapter 5.
Higher Education
The University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (UCCS), Colorado College (CC), and Pikes Peak State College (PPSC) are generators of multimodal traffic.
PPSC is the largest college in the region, with 17,000 students across three campuses: the Centennial Campus on Interquest Parkway, the Rampart Range Campus on South Academy adjacent to Fort Carson, and a downtown campus on Pikes Peak Avenue.
UCCS had more than 11,000 students in fall 2023, and its campus is located off Austin Bluffs Parkway, between North Nevada Avenue and Union Boulevard.
CC has more than 2,000 students and is located near downtown Colorado Springs, to the south side of Unitah Street between I25 and North Nevada Avenue.
While all of these generate vehicle traffic, it is also critical to consider active transportation and transit connections to these campuses.
A primary concern for these locations is pedestrian and bicycle connections to improve access and safety, particularly in areas that lack sidewalks or bike trails.
Recreational Access and Tourism
Recreational opportunities and outdoor activities are a critical quality of life factor for residents as well as tourists. According to Visit Colorado Springs, the region hosted 24 million visitors in 2022.Of those, 68% enjoyed outdoor activities during their trip. Further, the region is a year-round destination, illustrated by percentage of visits by season: January-March (21%), April-June (26%), July-September (29%), October-December (24%).
Among these traffic-generating destinations are USAFA; Garden of the Gods; The Broadmoor area, including Seven Falls and Cheyenne Mountain Zoo; downtown Colorado Springs, including the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum and Weidner Field; Old Colorado City; and the Manitou Springs area, including the Pikes Peak Highway, Barr Trail, Manitou Incline, Manitou Penny Arcade, Cave of the Winds, and Manitou Cliff Dwellings.
In addition, many recreational destinations for tourists and residents lie outside the MPO boundary but are accessed via the PPACG transportation network, mostly notably US24. The impact of these desired locations on the network is detailed in the plans for individual municipalities and counties but should be considered in regional planning as well. This was a critical consideration for the development of a federal lands access report that is included as Appendix F, and local recreational trails were the focus of the PPACG Active Transportation Plan, adopted in 2024.
Well-maintained roads and bridges are critical for tourism and recreation across the region, as are clear wayfinding signage and consistent terminology, when possible for cohesive tourist communication.
Transit System
The transit system in the Pikes Peak Region is comprised of several providers.
MMT is the primary transit service provider in the Pikes Peak Region. MMT is operated by the City of Colorado Springs but also provides service to Manitou Springs and Security-Widefield. MMT operates 29 fixed-route transit lines, two deviated fixed-route lines, three free shuttles (one in downtown Colorado Springs and two in Manitou Springs), and complementary ADA paratransit service. The transit system map is depicted in Figure 4-7.
Figure 4-7: Transit System
Fountain Municipal Transit is operated by the City of Fountain, which runs a single route that connects to MMT at the PPSC Transfer Center.
Envida is a nonprofit organization that predominantly provides transportation services to individuals with disabilities, older adults, and low-income individuals in the greater Colorado Springs area. Envida operates demand-responsive service, but also runs two fixed-route lines and deviations upon request. This service is open to the public and provides connections into Colorado Springs from rural communities in eastern El Paso County.
Bustang is an intercity bus service provided by the Colorado Department of Transportation. There are three Bustang routes that serve Colorado Springs.
Ramblin Express is a private intercity bus service open to the general public. It operates two routes from Colorado Springs: to Cripple Creek via Woodland Park, and Pueblo.
Information about the specific services, routes, amenities, performance, and recommendations for the transit system can be found in Appendix B.
In addition, the CDOT Department of Transit and Rail (DTR) is developing a Transit Connections Study (TCS), which was anticipated to be completed in 2025. The TCS aims to provide a strategic vision for an interconnected statewide transit network. This includes improving and expanding the Bustang Family of Services, adding passenger rail services, identifying transit gaps and needs, and fostering connections with intercity regional and local transit/mobility providers.
CDOT met with MMT and local jurisdictions in the Pikes Peak Region to determine projects for inclusion in the TCS, which is also included as an addendum to the Regional Transit Plan in Appendix B.
Specialized Transportation
In addition to a regional transit plan, MMT and PPACG partnered to develop the Regional Specialized Transportation Plan, also called the coordinated human services plan. Specialized transportation is a service designed for individuals that offers door-to-door or curb-to-curb transportation (as well as door-through-door, in certain circumstances). The specialized plan, also known as a coordinated transit/human services transportation plan, is necessary for receiving federal dollars on transportation programs tailored to older adults, disabled people, and low-income communities.
Specialized transportation may require advanced reservations and is usually operated by a funded non-profit (e.g., Envida, Silver Key Services, Fountain Valley Senior Center).
In addition, paratransit is a transit agency service provided by transit agencies exclusively for individuals with disabilities who cannot independently use transit services some or all the time. MMT provides ADA complementary paratransit through its Mountain Metro Mobility program. Service operates the same days and hours as local fixed-route transit service covering areas within ¾-mile of existing routes.
Specialized transportation and ADA complementary paratransit seeks to meet these needs where fixed-route service cannot. Some, but not all, of these services exist to fulfill a legal mandate, such as the ADA. Additionally, some, but not all, of these services are funded through FTA Section 5310 funding.
PPACG currently receives and administers Pikes Peak Area Agency on Aging (PPAAA) funds for older adults and has been designated by the Governor of Colorado as the regional recipient of FTA Section 5310 funds for the Colorado Springs Urbanized Area. Section 5310 funds are currently the only dedicated federal source of transportation funding available to both transit agencies and human service providers (HSPs) in this region.
Section 5310 funds are used by PPACG to contract mobility services that provide rides for the populations of older adults and people with disabilities. Section 5310 funds received by PPACG for the past two contract years were allocated to two eligible subrecipients: Silver Key and Envida. However, there are several other providers that are important HSPs in the region. While they do not receive Section 5310 funds, they may receive Older Americans Act funds through the PPAAA. HSPs receive assistance in the programming of funds used for these specialized transportation purposes through PPACG and PPAAA and may also receive funding from other sources (e.g., localities and donations).
Details of the service providers, their service regions, funding sources, and operations are included in Appendix C.
In fiscal year 2023, about 145,800 rides were provided by the five largest specialized transportation services in the region. However, the system does not currently meet demand in the region, and more than 7,000 rides are denied annually due to lack of adequate capacity. Funding is the biggest hurdle to improving service.
Active Transportation
Active transportation focuses on human-powered modes such as biking and walking. The Pikes Peak Region has a robust active transportation network composed of paved and unpaved trails, on-street and off-street bicycle lanes, multiuse shoulders, and sidewalks.
This network serves a variety of purposes within the region. It supports children walking and biking to school, commuting, shopping and other consumer activities, and recreation.
PPACG’s mapping data includes more than 922 miles of sidewalk and 311 miles of bicycle facilities. However, these miles were mapped based on imagery and reflect only those along federally classified roadways and corridors mapped for the travel demand model. It does not include all trails, local sidewalks, and other facilties. For this reason, the regional active transportation plan provides a more in-depth look at pedestrian and bicycle facilities than the LRTP.
The regional active transportation plan, adopted by PPACG in 2024, focuses on connecting communities and helping each community to be a safer, healthier and more enjoyable place for residents, businesses, and visitors. Its purpose is to build upon previous regional bicycle and pedestrian initiatives alongside local plans in setting a path for the region to link its communities and regional destinations with a deserving transportation network.
Approximately 25 planning documents and studies developed by area governments were reviewed in the compilation of the active transportation network and the regional active transportation plan.
The Active Transportation Plan included a review of existing and planned facilities and developed a demand index to identify areas where people are likely to be and provide a framework to understand the environment for walking and bicycling. Demand was based on a set of factors that represent live, learn, work, and locations.
An analysis of the existing cycling and pedestrian facilities provides a general understanding of the coverage and type of infrastructure. The facilities are given a buffer to show the reasonable access area for the existing infrastructure. Figure 4-8 depicts the existing trail facilities in the region. Sidewalks and sidewalk gaps were outside of the scope of the active transportation plan as the plan had a regional scope and sidewalk issues are generally handled on a jurisdictional level.
Figure 4-8: Existing Trail Network
Freight
In January 2024, PPACG adopted a Regional Freight Mobility Study. As the first such study conducted in the region, its goal was to gain a deeper understanding of the regional freight system and support future funding applications, at the regional, statewide, and federal level, as well as supporting planning initiatives.
The Pikes Peak Region lies snugly along the eastern side of the Southern Rocky Mountains which outlines the major freight corridors in the region. This corridor is home to the region’s major freight carrying railroad corridor operated jointly by Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) and Union Pacific (UP) railroads as well as three airports and is a freight hub for Southern Colorado. BNSF and UP are considered Class I railroads by the Interstate Commerce Commission. In addition, there are about 7 miles of track in the region owned by the U.S. Government. This segment is operated by the Department of Defense (DoD) and connects to the Fort Carson Rail Center. There is also a portion of track that passes through USAFA. Figure 4-9 outlines the region’s freight network, and Figure 4-10 depicts the existing railroad facilities identified in the Regional Freight Mobility Study.
Figure 4-9: Freight Network
Figure 4-10: Railroad Facilities
The I25 corridor is the main connection to larger trading hubs in the state and beyond as well as being the only location where certain modes such as air and rail can access the region. US24 runs east-west through the Pikes Peak Region.
The Regional Freight Mobility Study provided an overview of the economic development trends and freight commodities in the region as well as summaries of freight by mode, safety and reliability, and emergency routes. The study included a list of potential future freight projects in the region and a vision freight network. It will also form the foundation for the forthcoming Freight Plan, which will add detail and create an implementation plan for strategic freight goals.
Truck, rail, and air are the three modes of freight transportation in the region. When considering the larger region of El Paso, Park, and Teller counties, truck is by far the most important mode to the region’s economy, handling 99% of all tonnage and nearly 92% of all value in the region each year, according to cargo data compiled by Transearch.
Colorado Freight and Passenger Rail Plan
The Colorado Freight and Passenger Rail Plan was completed by CDOT in February 2024 and looks at the role of rail in the state, rail initiatives, and proposed rail improvements. This plan includes information from the regional study and discusses how the Pikes Peak Region network connects with existing and proposed rail throughout the state and beyond.
Southern Colorado Rail Park
The Southern Colorado Rail Park (SCRP) is a proposed industrial park and freight hub project that is currently progressing through the development review process. The SCRP industrial park site is located within El Paso County with potential future annexation into the City of Fountain. The site is bordered by Fort Carson to the north, south, and west, City of Fountain property to the east, and the Ray Nixon power plant to the southeast. The project received a U.S. Economic Development Administration grant to support technical planning in 2021, and in 2023, the City of Colorado Springs and Colorado Springs Utilities approved the rail trackage agreement.
The site is planned to be developed over four phases, with the first phase including only the existing rail line into Fort Carson. The planned land use mix for the site will be primarily light and heavy industrial, with some retail and storage/warehousing uses also expected. The build out of the site is expected to progress over a period of about 20 years.
Passenger Rail
As described in the previous section, the major rail corridor in the region parallels I25. Both BNSF and UP use the facilities in this corridor for freight.
The only other rail facilities in the region are The Broadmoor Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway, a recreational and tourist railway that operates year-round from the Manitou Depot to the summit of Pikes Peak.
Front Range Passenger Rail
The Colorado Legislature established the Front Range Passenger Rail (FRPR) District in 2021. Per Senate Bill 21-238, the District’s purpose is to “research, develop, construct, operate, and maintain an interconnected passenger rail system within the front range that is competitive in terms of travel time for comparable trips with other modes of surface transportation.”
The established vision for FRPR is: Developing passenger rail that serves Front Range communities from Pueblo to Fort Collins is a critical component of Colorado’s future. FRPR will provide a safe, efficient, and reliable transportation option for travel between major population centers and destinations along the Front Range and create a multi-modal backbone for connecting and expanding rail and transit options in the state and region.
The District contains portions of 13 counties along the Front Range and I-25, spanning the length of Colorado, and has the authority to levy taxes to fund rail programs.
A Service Development Plan (SDP) for FRPR is being conducted, which will evaluate routes, stations, service, infrastructure, operations, costs, and financing. The final report is anticipated in fall of 2025.
A Passenger Rail Station Location Study, conducted by MMT and the City of Colorado Springs was adopted in December 2022. This study considered 11 potential station locations and determined a recommended location east of America the Beautiful Park and south of the Olympic and Paralympic museum.
Southwest Chief Thru-Car Service Study
Southwest Chief is a daily long-distance train that runs between Chicago and Los Angeles with stops in Lamar, La Junta, and Trinidad. In 2021, CDOT, Amtrak, and the Southwest Chief and FRPR Commission (predecessor to the FRPR District) received a federal grant to study the feasibility of adding passenger rail services between Colorado Springs, Pueblo, and the existing Amtrak Southwest Chief station in La Junta. Because this study overlaps with the FRPR SDP, analysis of the Colorado Springs to Pueblo segment has been paused pending the SDP.
Air Transportation
The Pikes Peak Region contains two airports, although five additional small airports operate outside the MPO boundary.
The Colorado Springs Municipal Airport handles freight and passenger traffic . It includes a 275,000-square-foot facility with 12 gates, two parallel runways, and one crosswind runway. Colorado Springs Municipal Airport is located to the east of Powers Boulevard (CO21) off Milton Proby Parkway. The airfield is also a joint use civilian and military airport, with Peterson SFB located to the north.
The Meadow Lake Airport is located in Peyton off Judge Orr Road near the intersection with US24. It is a public use, one-runway airport owned by a 501.c4 nonprofit corporation, the Meadow Lake Airport Association.
According to monthly traffic reports, the number of passengers at Colorado Springs Airport has risen in recent years, from 1.8 million in 2021 to more than 2.3 million in 2023.
Colorado Springs Airport completed a 20-year master plan in 2022, which included an assessment of regional transportation assessment.