I just came down 14th Street from East Third Avenue and recalled the city doing street work there some months back. The south side of the street is smoothly paved, but the north side of the street is in really bad shape. Then there’s a large seam in the center of the road with a big drop off. Did the city run out of funds? Is this a barrier to keep tourists from venturing outside the downtown retail zone? Or is the city striving for the same high standards as La Plata County Road and Bridge Department? – Driving Me Mad
You can tell it’s spring. People start noticing the lovely blooming crocus, the joyfully singing birds, the enticing warm days – and the pitiful condition of our roads.
Action Line – being the verbose verifier of vernal vitiations – checked it out.
The diagnosis: 14th Street has a split personality worse than Jekyll and Hyde.
Who’s at fault with this asphalt? We posed that question to super Mike Somsen, the city’s street superintendant.
Mike has the never-ending task of turning the mean streets of Durango into kinder, gentler places.
“It was a tough winter, all one month of it,” he said with a chuckle. “We’re patching things up steadily.”
But his crews are not going to do anything with 14th Street.
That’s because the decrepit north side will be torn up and redone.
“That half should have been done last year,” Mike said. But when the crews started work, they discovered a gas line ran under the street. “That really slowed things down.”
The gas company had to dig a new trench, replace the pipes and rebury everything before Four Corners Materials, the paving contractor, could proceed with the job.
“We didn’t run out of money – we ran out of time,” he lamented.
The south half of the road got its blacktop right before winter set in and the north side was left out in the cold.
Now that spring has sprung, Four Corners Materials will go forth to 14th and pick up where they left off.
They’ll dig up the north side and the road’s middle drop-off part and set down a lane of fresh pavement.
“It’ll be smooth and offer a nice ride,” Mike promised.
In the meantime, Mike asks you to please report any instances of icky infrastructure.
The city’s website has a cool way to do it. Go to durangogov.org. At the top of the page, there’s a tab called “How Do I...?”
Scroll over that tab and a drop-down menu appears. The second to the last item is “Report.” Click on that and then on “Streets.”
On the reporting page, there’s a box in which to describe the problem. You can even pinpoint the location on a Google map and upload a photo if you have one. Then click “Submit.” It’s that easy.
Mike gets a notification, and he puts the item on his incredibly long to-do list.
Or you can be old school and call Mike at 375-4839.
Spring’s a crazy-busy time, but Mike will get back with you on your rutted, routed route.
Just know that it’s triage time, where worst goes first.
At the top of Mike’s list are the potholes that could be stocked with trout if it weren’t for the submerged SUV.
Email questions to actionline@durangoherald.com or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301. You can request anonymity if you mistakenly thought that was it for winter.
