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PARKER, Colo. -- The secret is out. Parker is no longer a quiet little town. The beautiful, family-friendly place is booming. Houses are going up left and right. A new boutique hotel is under construction on Main Street.
The sentiment is clear from longtime residents that the the town's popularity has severely affected traffic.
"Something has to be done or it will eventually be a parking lot on Parker Road," said Steven Milligan.
Others have altered their routines to prevent sitting through it all.
"I'm retired so I don’t get up early, but in the afternoon you kind of avoid Parker Road between 3:30 p.m. and maybe 6:30 p.m.," said Taffy Darley.
Residents have their own suspicions about why traffic is getting so bad.
"I don't think the lights are synchronized very well," said Jim Farrar.
"If they could widen the road that would certainly be nice," Milligan suggested. "I'm not sure they have the space to do that."
Denver7 got in touch with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) to get some answers.
"We are looking into seeing if we can do any improvements to alleviate some of the congestion," said Stacia Sellers.
Denver7 learned CDOT has worked with the town of Parker in the past to come up with possible solutions. Sellers says adding lanes to Parker Road has been discussed, as well as looking at parallel routes to divert drivers in order to ease congestion.
"Parker Road isn’t alone in its congestion issues. We’re seeing that all over," said Sellers. "We’re trying to do the best that we can with cities and towns."
Recent safety improvements have already been made on Parker Road. A median was added to Parker Road at Longs Way to stop cars from making left turns. Extra lighting was added to areas through the Town of Parker as well.