Joe from Denver writes, “What's driving you crazy? On westbound Thornton Pkwy that crosses over I-25, the sign that points to I-25 for Colorado Springs, it is abbreviated Colo SPRS. Why??? It has always driven me nuts. We all know it should be SPGS not SPRS as in Spurs.”
Questions like this make me love this segment. I first researched the standard abbreviation of springs. According to the United State Postal Service, the standard is "SPGS." They even list their commonly used street suffix and abbreviations for springs as "SPGS," "SPNGS," "SPRINGS" and "SPRNGS." Never do they use "SPRS."
In my searching, the only common use for the SPRS abbreviation I found came from the US Department of Defense. The "Supplier Performance Risk System," or SPRS, is a web-based application that collects, processes and displays information about supplier performance for the DoD. Basically, a report card that shows a defense contractor's level of compliance with DoD security controls.
About the only other references I could find for SPRS is SPRS Racing Sports in the Philippines that makes motorcycle racing track suits, the Single Point Registration Scheme (SPRS) for the Government of India’s National Small Industries Corporation to participate in governmental purchases and the Seafood Processors Pandemic Response and Safety Block Grant Program that provides COVID-19 grants to eligible state agencies and territories to support seafood processors.
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I asked the City of Thornton about the history of these signs and why the SPGS abbreviation was chosen. Communications Director Todd Barnes anticlimactically told me, “We do not have any history on why the signs say SPRS instead of SPGS. The traffic signals at the interchange were constructed in the 80s and none of the signs have been damaged to the point of needing replacement.”
That is the only reason, Todd said, the signs would be updated — if they were damaged to the point they needed to be replaced.
I then called Bob Wilson at CDOT who is an unofficial Colorado roadway historian. Bob told me, the Thornton Parkway bridge, interchange and directional signs at Interstate 25 were constructed in 1985. He tells me the SPRS abbreviation was most likely a typo that was never brought to their attention.
“Perhaps because people knew what the sign was saying, despite the abbreviation. But people do notice, like your sharp-eyed viewer,” Wilson said.
The other part of these signs that both he and I noticed is that the southbound sign points to Colorado Springs, not to the other major city that you would drive through on your way to Colorado Springs — Denver. So why point to Colorado Springs and not Denver?
“It should say Denver, since that's the city that should be referenced in the northern suburbs and to the north. Highway signs in south Denver and its southern suburbs should reference Colorado Springs,” Wilson said.
The other oddity about these signs is that they direct northbound I-25 travelers to Cheyenne.
“I remember when Cheyenne, not Fort Collins was the city of reference for mileage along I-25 in Denver," Wilson said. "Cheyenne took priority at that time and years prior since it was considered a Control City due to its location as a major junction point for Interstate 25 and Interstate 80, of which Fort Collins was not. But as we went into the 90s, other factors came into play. The population of Fort Collins grew substantially, nearly 90,000 and over 170,000 today!! Cheyenne's population remained fairly static, approximately 50,000, so Fort Collins became the Control City due to its growth and it became more of the geographic city of reference overriding the interstate junction point for interstate travelers.”
As far as the current signage is concerned, CDOT’s Region One Traffic Engineer Alazar Tesfaye told me, “These modular mast arm structure signs are original to the interchange's construction. Updating those signs would probably involve replacing the whole plastic panel, though they might be due since they’re about 40 years old now. Thornton also has a new city logo that could be included.”
“We are certainly open to replacing the signs, pending cost, and would consider that but due to the modular design of the traffic signals, which is not a common design, we’d need to investigate associated costs and given the budget challenges these days, I can say we will likely only replace them if they get too damaged,” Thornton Communications Director Todd Barnes said.
I did exhaustive research looking back for the contractor of the Thornton Parkway bridge and looked through news articles from that time about construction of the bridge and the signs, but came up empty. If any other road historian has more stories to add, I would love to hear it and update this story. Send them to me at Jayson.Luber@Denver7.com.
Denver7 Traffic Expert Jayson Luber says he has been covering Denver-metro traffic since Ben-Hur was driving a chariot. (We believe the actual number is over 25 years.) He's obsessed with letting viewers know what's happening on their drive and the best way to avoid the problems that spring up. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram or listen to his award winning Driving You Crazy podcast on any podcast app including iTunes, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Podbean, or YouTube.
