People with disabilities should find it easer to navigate sidewalks in coming years in Durango and across the state.
The Colorado Department of Transportation plans to spend $85 million to make curb ramps on sidewalks along state highways, including north Main Avenue (U.S. Highway 550), over the next five years.
“It’s important for people with disabilities to be able to access their communities,” said Martha Mason, executive director of the Southwest Center for Independence, a Durango nonprofit that advocates for those with disabilities.
She expects the initiative will make a huge difference in more rural parts of the state where state highways are more likely to double as a town’s main street.
“A community that’s accessible to everybody is a healthier community,” she said.
CDOT plans to improve ramps on north Main Avenue in Durango and along state Highway 145 in Dolores this year, according to the agency’s priority plan.
Ramp construction will happen at the intersections of 17th, 22nd and 32nd streets this fall and spring of 2019 in Durango, CDOT spokeswoman Lisa Schwantes said. CDOT improved sidewalk ramps at five intersections along the north Main Avenue/Highway 550 corridor last year.
More ramps will be improved in Durango and Cortez in 2019.
Bayfield, Ignacio and Pagosa Springs will not have any ramps improved during the first three years of the project, she said. But it’s possible they could be selected for improvements in the future.
To prioritize construction, CDOT staff and consultants inventoried the agency’s more than 20,000 sidewalk ramps.
CDOT selected ramps for improvement based on criteria such as steepness of the curb ramp and the space available for a wheelchair to turn. It will work on the worst ramps across the state first, a news release said.
Construction will not address inaccessible sidewalks adjacent to the new ramps, CDOT spokeswoman Emily Crespin said.
“Our hope is that this initiative will lay the groundwork for addressing sidewalks on the state highway system in the future,” she said.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
