US 34 & MacGregor Avenue Improvements

There will be an open house for the public to ask questions of the project team on Feb. 20 from 5-7 p.m. at the Estes Park Town Hall, but all the information for the project will be housed at the project website: https://www.codot.gov/projects/us-34-macgregor-improvements. No new information will be presented at the meeting, and there will be no formal presentation.  

On March 2, the intersection of US 34 (Wonderview Avenue) and MacGregor will be closed for four months to allow the Colorado Department of Transportation to build a roundabout in the area and make other safety improvements to the area.

During the closure, traffic from US 34 (Wonderview) will be detoured to US 34 Business (Elkhorn) and traffic from MacGregor will be detoured to Big Horn Drive. Minor delays are expected.

This project is one that has been discussed for years, including a public meeting in December of 2018 to discuss design options for the intersection. The roundabout design that was the overwhelming choice of those in the meetings and the design team, was Option 1 (picture below). This option connects sidewalks on the north and was better for pedestrian safety while maintaining the access points for residents in the area.

All of this work came about because of operational and safety concerns with the intersection which led to a CDOT study on the area.

The goals of the study were:

• Accommodate current and future traffic volumes
• Improve safety for vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists and other users
• Cost savings for construction, maintenance, traveler delay and crashes 

While the study looked at a number of options, the roundabout was easily the best choice. The study looked at how the intersection operates, safety concerns and cost over the next 20 years.

Other traffic options included in the study:

• Leaving the intersection as-is (with stop signs only for MacGregor) … would mean very long delays especially for drivers on MacGregor, increased number of crashes and would be the highest cost overall.
• Make the intersection a four-way stop … operations would not be much better than the current two-way stop but it would reduce crashes.
• Put in a traffic light … it would operate better than either of the stop sign options but would not reduce conflict points and won’t reduce crashes as well as the four-way stop.

Why was the roundabout selected?

• Best operation for all vehicles
• Lowest points of conflict with vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians
• Lowest number of expected crashes
• Lowest cost over the next 20 years