Bump-outs are leaving Main Avenue after another successful season.
The city of Durango has asked businesses to remove bump-outs by the end of the day Wednesday, but most had already been removed as of Monday. The city will then remove the concrete planters and bike racks it installed by the end of the week, returning the outdoor spaces to parking.
“The intention was always that it would be a seasonal program,” said Tim Walsworth, executive director of the Durango Business Improvement District. “And if you look at just the way that our economy goes, certainly the pandemic has changed visitor patterns, but overall, these are the slower months that we’re about to enter into here.”
The bump-outs were installed in March to help businesses rebound during the pandemic. The second year of the program saw improved safety with a reduced the speed limit between Fifth and 14th streets on Main Avenue to 15 mph.
So far, there are no plans to revamp the program until next spring. However, if businesses began expressing concern about shrinking space amid another COVID-19 surge, Walsworth said the BID would work with businesses and the city to bring back the bump-outs.
“We would do everything we could to try to bring them back,” Walsworth said. “And the good of how they’re currently put together is it’s pretty easy to take them down and put them up. It takes a day.”
While bump-outs will go into hibernation, the program has spurred a larger conversation about permanent outdoor space for businesses.
“There is very serious momentum to taking a serious look at: How do we make this outdoor space permanent?” Walsworth said.
The city of Durango plans to begin a public input process by the beginning of December to hear what community members and businesses envision for Main Avenue, said Tommy Crosby, the business development and redevelopment coordinator for the city of Durango.
“We want to hear directly from community members and businesses of what they would like to see,” Crosby said.
The city will work with outside consultants throughout the feedback process, which Crosby estimates will last through mid-March. The city will then consider making permanent changes to downtown.
For Walsworth, the bump-outs have served as a catalyst that could reshape Durango’s business district.
“These things have worked. They’ve worked economically. ... But we also know they can be better in terms of safety and aesthetics,” Walsworth said.
“So we’re taking this opportunity to have a serious discussion and see if there’s alignment in all those key stakeholders. If there is, let’s see what we can get done in the next couple of years and let’s redesign downtown a little bit to accommodate outdoor space year-round, not just seasonally,” he said.
ahannon@durangoherald.com
