Those flying out of Durango-La Plata County Airport may want to leave their homes or lodging 30 minutes earlier than they normally would beginning July 24.
That is when the Colorado Department of Transportation intends to start resurfacing Colorado Highway 172, which is the main road accessing the airport from Ignacio and Elmore’s Corner (U.S. Highway 160 and Highway 172).
The project will span 16.7 miles from Elmore’s Corner to Ignacio.
Pavement work will begin east of the airport near County Road 309 and will affect travelers coming from Ignacio as well. Pavement will be laid from south to north on Highway 172.
“All traffic between the airport and Durango will be impacted by some type of single-lane alternating closures for the paving operations there,” said DRO Director of Aviation Tony Vicari.
Vicari said the construction could add 30 minutes to the amount of time it takes to get to the airport.
Nancy Shanks, a spokeswoman for the resurfacing project, said the work will not impact traffic on Highway 160.
Alternating traffic will occur Monday through Friday with speed limits reduced to 40 mph, according to a CDOT news release.
“Realistically, many of the delays may be shorter than that. But again, with the importance of flight schedules, we really want to make sure people aren’t missing flights,” Vicari said.
He said DRO’s relatively small size makes it easy for people to park and make it through security, but travelers shouldn’t get too comfortable.
Said Shanks: “It’s OK to be early to the airport. You got Wi-Fi, coffee and a snack bar. I think it’s going to be a shock to our systems at first.”
It’s been a busy summer so far at DRO. At the halfway mark this summer, traffic is up 12% compared with last year’s numbers and 10% above pre-pandemic traffic in 2019.
“Right now we’re on track for the busiest year of all time at the airport in terms of passengers traffic levels,” Vicari said.
The busiest year recorded to-date was in 2021 when the COVID-19 travel restrictions were lifted. During that year, the airport saw an influx of about 400,000 total passengers.
Vicari is optimistic the airport will meet those numbers with July and August being DRO’s busiest months of the year.
“We just saw this huge pent-up demand for air travel that really exploded in the summer of 2021,” he said.
tbrown@durangoherald.com
