NEWS RELEASES
Shuttles & Parking Lot To Arrive In Garden of the Gods Visitor Center
Editor's Note: This news item was retrieved and first published through Colorado Springs Gazette's website.
Garden of the Gods will soon finish construction on a parking lot near the main entrance and install shuttles that will begin operating from there by month's end in what Colorado Springs officials are calling a "small-scale" approach to reducing heavy traffic in the iconic park. Garden of the Gods is most congested during May - September, according to Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, which found as many as 8,000 vehicles enter the park on the busiest days. "We know we won't have all the answers right away," Kim King, the parks department's project lead, said in a press release Wednesday, "but because we want to increase alternative ways to experience the Garden, it's critically important to test programs like the shuttle."
According to the article by Seth Boster on The Colorado Springs Gazette, "The temporary pilot program is set to begin at the end of May and last through the start of September. Garden of the Gods is most congested during that period, according to Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, which found as many as 8,000 vehicles enter the park on the busiest days." The Garden of the Gods Foundation paid for the consultant to study the situation last year, resulting in the recommendation for the shuttles and 400 parking spots at Rock Ledge Ranch. The lot will expand on the park-designated land beside Gateway Road, at the forefront of the postcard image seen from the visitor and nature center.
For more info on the shuttle program at Garden of the Gods, visit here.