Fountain officials celebrate, drivers enjoy completion of Indiana Avenue extension

FOUNTAIN, Colo. -- Workers have finished a five-month, $5 million project to extend Indiana Avenue on the south side of town and provide drivers with a better east-west route to and from busy Highway 85/87 (Santa Fe Avenue).

Officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday evening and the three-block stretch of Indiana opened to traffic the following afternoon.

The project extended Indiana a block west so that it now connects west to Santa Fe and east to Old Pueblo Road, just south of downtown.

Officials said that approximately a third of Fountain residents live east or south of downtown, and the new connector will ease traffic congestion on Ohio Avenue and other downtown-area streets.

KRDO 13's The Road Warrior spoke with several drivers Friday and all of them said they like the new connector.

A homeowner along Indiana, however, said that mixed opinion remains among some residents who dislike seeing more traffic coming through a neighborhood on the east side of the connector, and who are skeptical that it will actually reduce traffic congestion downtown.

Among the changes: Traffic signals have replaced stop signs at the Indiana/Santa Fe intersection; Indiana is widened to four lanes; and a railroad crossing is in place at the middle of the connector.

As a result of the Indiana improvements, Illinois Avenue -- a block to the north that drivers had used as a connector -- is permanently closed on either side of the railroad tracks, and the railroad crossing there was removed.

Officials said that the Illinois closure provides more safety around Aragon Elementary School and ultimately should establish a quiet zone that prohibits trains from sounding their horns.

However, the horns sounded on several occasions Friday morning; Robert McDonald, the city's transportation director, explained why.

"We haven't been approved for a quiet zone yet," he said. "That has to be considered by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway and the Federal Railroad Administration. It's a long process, but I feel like we'll get it."

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