For more than 20 years, Durangoans have sought a safe way across Camino del Rio. Last Tuesday at the Powerhouse (Herald, July 3), city staff members showed the best answer yet.
The new conceptual design for the Camino Crossing underpass at 12th Street is compact, intuitive and keeps the existing crossing intact for emergency access. It reduces tunnel length, cost, conflict points and property acquisition – no small feat while threading water, sewer and stormwater mains, mine tailings, railroad and CDOT requirements, accessibility standards and adjacent businesses. Asked about downsides, Multimodal Manager Lily Oswald said, “only that it’s different from what the public has expected.” Credit to staff and City Council for moving a two-decade dream to 30% design, with construction slated for 2029.
Now, connectivity – because an underpass is only as good as what it connects.
The crossing links downtown to the Animas River Trail. But it must also reach the new civic campus, Buckley and Rotary parks, and river neighborhoods. It has been overlooked before. When the trail from 32nd Street to Oxbow Park was completed, the 33rd Street put-in – arguably the busiest river access in town in summer – and the neighborhood around it were overlooked, adding only a compacted dirt path as an afterthought.
And the spur trails feeding the river trail? East of the Demon bridge toward Rio Vista Circle, frost heaves will bounce your lunch right out of the basket. The asphalt path from 5th Avenue at 1st Street to the Santa Rita Park stoplight at U.S. Highway 160 is little better. If not the city, who improves these connectors?
Residents’ concerns about Camino speeds are valid – and the city must slow traffic. The first question is what the speed limit through town should be, not what drivers choose to ignore. Turning right onto Camino from the Powerhouse and riverside business center is an accident waiting to happen. Once the underpass opens, fewer pedestrians will activate the Hawk signal that now slows traffic, leaving that unprotected right turn the only way out by car. The city says CDOT hasn’t favored revisiting the speed limit and access control plan. That should not end the discussion; it should start it. Push anyway. Front Range automated speed cameras have cut speeding 80% to 92%. Technology can tame Camino, too. Start with enforcement that brings speeds down, then revisit whether 35 is appropriate.
And to every driver: Slow down. Take in the breeze, the river and the view. A life could be at stake – just months ago, a kid on a scooter was hit here.
Which brings us to Vision Zero (Herald, July 1). Councilors are weighing a resolution making the multimodal plan’s safety recommendations mandatory and strengthening the project’s $10 million Safe Streets and Roads for All grant application. Should Durango become a Vision Zero city? Yes. What matters more than residents’ and visitors’ safety? Things cost money. Can you put a dollar sign on a life?
The clock is ticking. Durango hosts a UCI World Cup in 2029 and the World Championships Aug. 26-Sept. 1, 2030. Let’s take Camino Crossing to the finish line before the world descends on us.
Construction, though, must not sacrifice businesses. Durango Joes’ Joe Lloyd told Tuesday’s meeting attendees he lost $10,000 to $15,000 to the College and Eighth project; his Town Plaza shop is in the bull’s-eye of the Camino Crossing project area. Botanical Concepts closed after years of construction on the county roads 250/251 project. Councilor Kip Koso’s proposed business impact fund deserves support – not just checks (Herald, July 6). Think marketing: “Open during construction” campaigns, bold way-finding, temporary sales tax relief and 0% Region 9 loans. CDOT’s night work at Elmore’s Corner is a model worth repeating. No business should be at risk because its city is building something better.
Finally, a thank-you: Like most towns, Durango has signs pointing drivers to municipal parking. It’s one answer to our transportation problem. A better multimodal system is the other.
Editor’s note: Ellen Stein, Opinion editor and Editorial Board member, served on the Multimodal Advisory Board from 2019 to 2021.
