DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. -- Some Highlands Ranch neighbors are debating over whether a gate designed to prevent traffic flow should be accessible by residents to some degree.

The gate, which was installed in June, 2004, by Douglas County, runs across Aberdeen Way at Redwing Avenue and is limited to emergency and maintenance vehicles.

While some neighbors said the gate has increased safety on the street, others in nearby Gleneagles Village argued it limits needed access for drivers traveling from Quebec to Colorado Boulevard.

“I lived here before, (the traffic) was terrible,” said Robert Errington, who lives near the gate.

“The gate is a Godsend, it truly is,” said Errington.

Prior to installing the gate, around 3,500 vehicles per day were filtering through the neighborhood, according to the Douglas County website.

Neighbors told 7NEWS countless cars used their street as a short cut to Highlands Ranch High School, Cresthill Middle School, and adjacent businesses.

A spokeswoman for Douglas County said the gate, the only one of it's kind in the County was in response to, “a public safety issue.”

While some neighbors have argued the gate has placed an added strain on streets near the schools, resident Paul Foster said the gate has been effective.

“It’s returned the street to the volume of traffic it was designed for,” Foster said.

The Douglas County Board of Commissioners could consider changing the gate after some residents of the nearby Gleneagles Village senior community expressed concern.

“It’s a matter of inconvenience and safety for all of our people also,” said Bill Antico, President of the Gleneagles Village HOA Board.

Antico told 7NEWS safety concerns stemmed from seniors being forced to utilize larger, busier streets, when they’d prefer slower routes to businesses and medical facilities.

Antico said more than 500 people have signed a petition requesting access be expanded.

Gleneagles Village resident Albert Hornung said citizens in his community were not given proper notification about meetings discussing the gate back in 2002 and 2003.

Hornung said the goal is to find a compromise with residents concerned with traffic volume.

“We’d like to see transponders that would allow just residents in the immediate area to go through, but it wouldn’t be unlimited access to everyone,” Hornung told 7NEWS reporter Lane Lyon.

Foster questioned how the transponders would be administered. “Who’d get them?” Foster said. “Where do you draw the line?”

Douglas County officials have spent $60,000 in recent studies and an independent review of eight possible gate options. The options range from doing nothing, to constructing new roadways, according documents found on the County website.

After meeting with a mediator last week, a handful of concerned residents gathered Tuesday afternoon in Highlands Ranch to discuss a possible compromise.

The citizen committee is scheduled to report back to the Douglas County Board of Commissioners at a meeting on May 27.