Conflict point in the world of transportation is defined as one where “intersecting traffic merges, diverges or crosses.” We’ll venture to guess the Durango intersection of 14th Street, Main Avenue and U.S. Highway 550, which earned the honor of highest average daily traffic (ADT for transportation nerds), is top scale as a conflict point with vehicles, pedestrians, bicyclists and, of course, our beloved train.
If an ADT were rated statewide, we imagine Durango would blow the doors off other cities. For every person who has ever tried to make a left turn in the southbound lane of Camino del Rio onto 14th Street or tried to cross as a pedestrian, bicyclist or skateboarder, you know what we’re talking about.
It reminds us of those airline pilot sayings. Every good landing is one you can walk away from. Every great landing is one where you can use the airplane again.
At this intersection, every safe crossing is a good one.
We’ll say the same for “malfunction junction,” the intersection of Florida Road, East Third Avenue and 15th Street, which earned the grade of “F” from the Colorado Department of Transportation because of traffic congestion during peak hours. A lot of accidents and close calls, too.
To ready for malfunction junction, the 14th Street, Main Avenue and Camino del Rio intersection is good training ground.
No surprise, a traffic study of midtown Durango completed last year recommends changes before projected traffic increases in coming years as this area continues to grow. Plans for high-density projects at Florida and County Road 250 for dozens – if not hundreds – of units, with about half for affordable and workforce housing, are on drawing boards.
As we sit at the stop sign on East Third Avenue, turning left onto Florida, we’re reminded of those harrowing moments with our teens newly behind the wheel. They worked up to this intersection, where they brought together their fresh driving skills. Stop, look both ways and check for oncoming bikes, darting over from the Florida Road Trail. Then hit the accelerator and turn fast!
The study identified a “mini-roundabout” at this three-way intersection. By deadline, we couldn’t reach those in the know to define a mini-roundabout. We’d imagine it’s a smaller footprint than a regular-size roundabout. Or maybe it would be one-sided, a half-circle or like a bagel – rather than sliced sideways – cut top to bottom, from an O to two CCs, (which is just wrong. The bagel part.)
A roundabout could boost our intersection grade to an “A,” suitable because we are a high-achieving bunch. Then the intersection would be “formerly known as malfunction junction.”
But if traffic demand grew by 80% by 2041, the service level at malfunction junction would revert to grade “F.” If growth were to increase by 16% by 2041, closer to the city’s projected annual growth rate of 2%, the intersection would maintain a “B.” We could live with a “B” but will reach for that “A.”
(Fun fact – there is no legal limit to the number of times a driver can travel around a roundabout. But circling a roundabout more than twice would be careless driving.)
Attempts have been made for decades to fix this intersection. A true Durango conundrum. High traffic volume joined by bicyclists, private property, the river, the slope and more.
We could use an engineering feat – maybe a tunnel. That would be showing off, though.
Just west of malfunction junction, deliveries matter, too. So far, business owners are not in love with options presented.
So many obstacles. A reality show could be in order for up-and-coming transportation engineers to solve our traffic problems. We need big thinkers on this one.
Seriously, though, dangerous intersections have us considering our rate of growth. We tend to focus on our lack of affordable housing and our great need for more. More housing means more vehicles. Coloradans love their cars, no matter our beautiful commuter trails. In Gov. Jared Polis’ failed legislative measure, he did connect transit to affordable housing. Polis is right about that. The two must align.
Beyond our tricky intersections, a larger radius examined includes connection points from the Florida Road Trail and the Animas River Trail to downtown Durango. Clearance, grades, drainage and Durango Fire Protection’s Station 2 site plans are considerations.
“The intersection of East 2nd Avenue and 15th Street is our highest-volume intersection for bicyclists and pedestrians measured in our biannual survey, with many of those traveling to downtown,” according to Devin King, Durango’s multimodal administrator, on the city’s website. Two hundred cyclists and 90 pedestrians can pass through in a two-hour period.
So many hurdles. Access, parking, a bicycle off-ramp, one-way routes, speed limits, multimodal business. Traffic stacking, which sounds redundant.
We just wish we could have reflected on a “zipper merge,” when drivers use both lanes all the way to the merge point.
There is the option of doing nothing, too.
Durango spokesperson Tom Sluis said: “These projects are like everything else the city does. Until we get more feedback from the community and come up with a concrete plan, it’s too early to get into the design details.”
Durango will need the best transportation engineering minds. Fundamentally, safety rules. Might as well make that proposed reality show prize a fat one, too.
