Family of deadly crash victim speaks about changes to Platte and Nevada intersection

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) – Drivers can no longer make left turns where the iconic statue of General Palmer stands in the middle of Platte and Nevada in Colorado Springs.

“It’s hard for us to decipher if someone’s on the other side and they were thinking the same thing we’re thinking,” Demetrius Young who lives in Colorado Springs said.

Drivers like Young know what it’s like to navigate the intersection where the General Palmer statue sits.

Tens of thousands of cars pass through North Nevada and Platte every day. A 2019 safety study done by the city found that out of the 25 crashes reported at the intersection 21 of them involved a driver making a left turn.

“The number of crashes, the left turn crashes were more than double what you would expect from an intersection like this,” Colorado Springs City Engineer Todd Frisbie said.

Some of those crashes were deadly. 11 News spoke with one woman who tells us she lost her dad in a motorcycle crash at the intersection in April.

“My dad was the staple of our family like everyone talks about this statue is history. He was our history and they took my history from me,” Bobbie Romero said.

Romero tells 11 News she thinks the signs are a start, a start to solving a problem that she believes needs a bigger solution.

“I’m willing to help the city, however, I can come up with whatever idea it may be to get this fixed so that nobody else has to deal with what we’re dealing with,” Romero said.

It is important to note that drivers coming from the north and the south can still make left turns for the time being. The city says they are going to look at how the signs impact crash reports before *potentially taking further steps.

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