Residents of Eagle View Drive south of Durango along U.S. Highway 550 are concerned about access to their road, the lack of turn lanes and a dangerous intersection after the Colorado Department of Transportation wrapped up its yearslong Grandview interchange project in July.
Residents William Counley and Wayne Kjonaas said CDOT gave them until the end of September to file an appeal, and they and their neighbors are doing just that.
“The big issue is, prior to the construction, we could pull out of Eagle View Drive and we could go north into town, or we could elect to go south,” Counley said. “The way that they’ve constructed it is, it’s a divided highway in front of our access … so that forces us to go south.”
Kjonaas said it is only a matter of time before someone is killed at the intersection at County Road 219 just south of Eagle View Drive.
CDOT said it is working with residents of Eagle View Drive on their access issues.
“Our team has been in contact with residents throughout the development of the Connection South project,” CDOT spokeswoman Lisa Schwantes said in an email to The Durango Herald. “While they are requesting that Eagle View Drive get the type of intersection that is normally built for a full county road and US highway intersection or junction, CDOT has taken additional steps at this location, including nearly doubling the access width that this street normally would have.”
Kjonaas said to access Highway 550 to go north, Eagle View Drive residents must make a right turn onto Highway 550 going south, maneuver into the left lane about 1,400 feet south of Eagle View Drive and slow to nearly a stop to make a sharp U-turn onto Highway 550 going north.
“Between the Eagle View entry/exit and the (County Road) 219 intersection there is a crest in the road and a slight curvature to the left that restricts the view of southbound traffic,” he said in a written summary provided to the Herald. “This traffic would be traveling at highway speeds and would not be expecting to encounter slowing or stopped traffic in the left driving lane. This is not a condition you would expect with a newly constructed roadway.”
He said CDOT’s stated intention was to improve safety for Eagle View Drive residents and others traveling on the highway. But “requiring a right turn onto the highway followed by an unprotected left turn does not seem to accomplish those goals,” Kjonaas said.
In addition to having to go the wrong way before going the right way, Counley said deer fencing installed at the access point to Eagle View Drive limits the ability to drive larger vehicles onto Eagle View Drive without making a dangerous turn from the southbound left lane. He knocked down one of the fence posts when making such a turn.
Kjonaas said Eagle View Drive’s original, unrestricted entry point was 34 feet wide, which was wide enough for easy access – even by an eighteen-wheeler. With the deer fencing installed, the entry point has been reduced to 28 feet wide.
“The deer guard clearly is more restrictive to larger vehicle movement than before,” he said.
He said the deer fencing at the access point to Eagle View Drive should be widened by at least 6 feet.
Eagle View Drive residents had been under the impression since about 2010 that CDOT would relocate Eagle View Drive as part of its Highway 550 realignment project. They did not learn that plan was scrapped until summer 2023, Kjonaas said.
“There was no communication from the project team concerning the plan for (Eagle View Drive),” he said in his summary. “Later that summer (of 2023) we were all surprised when work began on Eagle View in its same location. I found out about the change in plans to leave Eagle View when I approached the contractor working on the drive and asked him what was going on.”
Kjonaas said CDOT has failed to provide explanations for its design decisions, including for stormwater management, which is another concern.
CDOT’s stormwater management plan calls for additional stormwater to be stored on site and discharge “would not exceed ‘historic levels,’” he said. But CDOT offered no evidence to back that up.
On May 13, he sent CDOT an email expressing his concerns about standing water in ditches and roads.
“What is going to happen with the runoff during heavy events?” he said. “Given the slope of that lot, it looks like it will run across the corner of my property. I would appreciate a meeting to go over the drainage plan for the project in our vicinity.”
He said he didn’t get a meeting with CDOT until Aug. 23. At the meeting, he was given no plan or explanation.
“The new discharge is onto land classified as Medium Erosion Potential and likely will flow to land classified as High Erosion Potential,” he said in his written summary.
On Aug. 27, CDOT Region 5 Transportation Director Julie Constan emailed Kjonaas and other Eagle View Drive residents to let them know to expect a CDOT Access Permit 138 form, which she explained details how residents can file an appeal or request for a hearing about their concerns, according to a copy of the email Kjonaas provided to the Herald.
Constan said the appeal process involves submitting a notice and supporting documents in writing to CDOT explaining the reason for the request; after it is reviewed by a transportation commission, it will be determined if the appeal will go before an administrative law judge.
She said the troubling intersection is a “full movement intersection,” and an environmental-impact statement limits the number of full movement intersections to no more than one per mile.
“The reason for limiting full movement intersections is safety,” she said. “We are trying to limit conflict points, and places where movements are occurring across the highway and have the potential to cause crashes.”
But Kjonaas said there are more full movement intersections than one per mile on Highway 550. The distance between the County Road 220 intersection and the south frontage road intersection is 0.6 miles; the distance between the south frontage road intersection and an intersection at Eagle View Place is 0.8 miles; and the distance between that intersection and another intersection at County Road 219 is 0.6 miles.
At 4:38 p.m. Aug. 30, the Friday before Labor Day weekend, Kjonaas received a CDOT Access Permit 138 form via email with a notice that hard copies would be sent to Eagle View Drive residents on Sept. 4. He said residents were told they have until the end of September to file an appeal.
He said language in the form suggests it was drafted before construction began, but he only received it after the project was completed. Some residents are still waiting to receive their forms, he added.
Kjonaas said he doesn’t want to be critical of CDOT. He understands the nearly $100 million Highway 550 realignment was a complicated project. But he and Counley feel overlooked and are concerned about the safety of their neighbors.
cburney@durangoherald.com
