Visiting Colorado Springs next week (Trinidad, Victor: hotel, homes, neighborhoods)

[joee5]

I enjoy watching Lt Joe Kenda's show based out of Colorado Springs.

[TCHP]

Xica_da_Silva,

I"m glad to hear you enjoyed your visit,despite the thick haze we had last week. That is certainly not the norm and as you saw, once we had a clear day, things were gorgeous.

RE your positive impressions;
1) see above post about our historic neighborhoods. They are not huge but they encompass most of the central and western parts of the city. They are quite varied so there is a range of prices that can be found within them. Alleys are a side effect of historic neighborhoods due to the old coal fired appliances they all used. Our alleys ways are a grid like the historic neighborhoods they reside in. They are not any more conducive to crime than the streets themselves, although you may see some homeless digging through trash cans. Many of our historic areas tend to be more community oriented than further out from the core and more than some far outer 'burbs.
2) You hit some of the most popular areas, so some crowds were to be expected. As you also noticed, time is a factor. There also are other area neighbor most neighborhoods that have near by access for quick walks.
3) We are half way through a 5 year plan of road restoration. The most used places have already been updated and more are to come.

RE negatives;
1&2) This median phenom is fairly recent planning discipline. Can't say I like it myself, but its part of a bigger traffic management plan that is popular among planners these days. These medians have even been working their way into the more central parts of the city. Since the proliferation of cheap a/c, Phoenix has been adhering to a master plan unlike nearly any other city its size, so it has always been able to plan for implimentation of those large open roadways. The rest of us have had to adapt the strange bridge of pre-WW2 neighborhood planning to post war suburban/auto centric layouts on an ongoing basis. It has created to challenges along the way. The newer developments on the far north and eastern parts of the city are more like this, only without the grid layout. Highway 24...once upon a time it was easy - it turned into Cimmarron on the west side, ran into and went up Nevada, then went east on Platte. Since then we've retained this as a business loop, but the official highway has changed course with the addition of the MLK bypass, the expansion of Powers, and numerous other changes. Since most GPS systems choose the routes closest associated with highways, you probably got to see more of it than most of us locals.

Trinidad is an interesting place. It was a primary town on the Sante Fe trail and saw lots of English and Spanish traffic early in its days. It also was the primary southern route for entering the state back in the gold rush days. Nearly any gunfighter you heard stories about from the old west days probably passed through Trinidad. It later was the center for large amounts of coal mining as the 20th century advanced. It led a pretty quiet existence for middle part of the century until in the 1960s, it began its run as the sex change capital due to a few Dr's that pioneered the surgery. It has since moved past that and is now a primary weed distribution hub for southern CO. There actually are a lot of expensive get away homes west of Trinidad and Walsenburg that defy their small town personas.

[TCHP]

Originally Posted by joee5

I enjoy watching Lt Joe Kenda's show based out of Colorado Springs.

While his stories came from here, its actually filmed in TN, except for some key landmark shots, unfortunately.

[blind spot]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

Not that much traffic here, IMO it's about the least of your worries.

I hope you don't mind me resurrecting this but I was curious about this because I have heard a lot of people complain about the traffic getting worse over the past few years. Is it really not too bad?

I lived in socal for awhile and now I live in another huge metroplex with worsening traffic so I wonder if it's really that bad or maybe not so bad compared to those areas.

[otowi]

Originally Posted by blind spot

I hope you don't mind me resurrecting this but I was curious about this because I have heard a lot of people complain about the traffic getting worse over the past few years. Is it really not too bad?

I lived in socal for awhile and now I live in another huge metroplex with worsening traffic so I wonder if it's really that bad or maybe not so bad compared to those areas.

There are times and places where it can be frustrating. It is usually possible to plan ahead and work around those.

[beezle1]

I came here from Laguna Hills in Orange County in 1994. The traffic on our interstate, on its WORST day, is no where near as bad as the 405 and 5 were EVERY day.

[TCHP]

Traffic is always a relative thing. As a life long local, yes it is bad compared to the past when I started driving. Having driven the the Bay area, Boston, NYC, Dallas, and Los Angeles, its nothing compared to major cities. As otowi points out, there certainly are rush hour areas and times that get pretty busy, but even then, things are moving and never stalled out and creeping unless there is extenuating circumstances, like accidents or construction.

[blind spot]

That's a relief! Thank you. I didn't remember it being bad on past trips but I always drove around at off peak times.

[hollyt00]

Traffic also depends *where*- I live downtown, so the traffic is rarely bad. For me to cross Nevada, sometimes I have to wait a whole minute to cross.

However, going up to the north-east end of town, or the east end of town, the traffic gets much heavier. Those areas do not rely on the grid system, which spreads out traffic, instead funneling smaller roads to larger roads to the arteries, which results in heavier and heavier traffic.

[DrDog]

Originally Posted by phetaroi

Before I start, I have to warn you that I've become very negative about Colorado Springs, so take what I say with that warning.

The worst part about Colo Springs is the risk of forest/wildfires. In the big fires of a few years ago, all of Manitou was evacuated when fire threatened to simply wipe that whole area out. And when you get substantial fires further west, we pay a price for that, too -- terribly polluted air. There have been several days this month when I could not even see Pikes Peak from downtown.

There are houses in your price range, including single family and townhouses. You need to explore here, however. Many of what you are describing as bungalows are in very run-down old sections of the city.

Traffic is not bad here...despite what some hicks will tell you. I wouldn't worry about travel to and from the airport from almost any place in the city. However, destinations are limited from the airport, and many of my friends travel to Denver's airport instead...and that's a looooooooooong haul.

I've been here a little over 8 years. This is strip mall heaven, with most all of the national vendors present. However, if you like shopping at -- for example -- Macys, the local Macys is rather pathetic, so I always go to Park Meadows just south of Denver for "serious shopping".

I wouldn't worry about snow, other than that clearing the roads here seems to be more about being cheap than doing it well.

Despite the Springs' reputation, it's a live and let live kinda place...the religious aspect is not at all overwhelming.

Do you still live here, and if so, why?