Just as east 15th Street was opened to through traffic, the Department of Public Works had to close a lane on north Main Avenue because of a water break, and traffic slowed on Florida Road while streetlight maintenance occurred.
With no fanfare or public announcement, east 15th Street reopened, as the well-used artery was closed for about a month for a number of improvements, including the replacement of 120 feet of track by contractors working for the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad – eliminating the bump-bump for cars crossing the tracks, according to city of Durango Multi-modal Coordinator Amber Blake.
“That’s a major intersection that sees a lot of traffic,” said Levi Lloyd, street supervisor for the city of Durango. “We really pushed them to get it done by Thanksgiving, when there would be all these people in town who wouldn’t know the detour.”
Kennebec Construction, which got the contract for the job, made the Thanksgiving deadline for getting the street open. Workers were expected to be painting lanes Monday and today.
Other improvements, including storm drains and new signs, have been completed.
A transfer point accessible to people with disabilities was installed for riders on Route 1, the trolley, and Route 4, the bus to Fort Lewis College.
“We still need to build and repair sidewalks from the Animas River Trail to 14th Street,” Lloyd said. “But we’ll probably push that back to the spring.”
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A water-main break on north Main Avenue has reduced the two northbound lanes to one between 31st and 32nd streets, according to the city of Durango.
The break occurred immediately north of the bus stop at north City Market, city utilities director Steve Salka said.
It will take a minimum of three days to resolve the problem, he said.
A possible cause of the break is a failure of one of the service lines that served houses where the supermarket parking lot is situated. When the structures were razed, water lines were not properly capped, Salka said. A break in a service line allows water to bubble to the surface.
“We’ve been in there before,” Salka said.
City Market has water, but other customers in the area may be out of water or have low pressure, he said.
Pavement repair requires meeting certain Colorado Department of Transportation standards, Salka said.
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Street light maintenance created a rolling lane closure on the west side of Florida Road, from North College Drive to the Riverview Roundabout on Monday morning.
Crews replaced light bulbs from about 9 a.m. until around noon.
Herald staff writer Mary Shinn contributed to this story.
