It was a small group of 12 that showed up for the public-comment session on the proposed transportation redesign of north Main Avenue, but they seemed to agree on one thing: The traffic corridor is unsafe as it’s now configured.
Whether they think the proposed redesign of Main from 14th Street to Animas View Drive will make it safer was not as clear.
The proposal was presented June 23 to the Durango City Council. It includes better sidewalks, more landscaping, some medians as pedestrian refuges and 6-foot bike lanes. The plan also includes more pedestrian crossings with signals and, long-term, a pedestrian underpass somewhere between Durango High School at 24th Street and the Durango Community Recreation Center at 27th Street.
A complete redesign of the 32nd Street/Main intersection and the Main, 14th Street and Camino del Rio intersection are also included in the proposal. Narrower lanes, down from 15 feet to 11 feet, are meant to slow traffic down to the speed limit of 35 mph.
All of this will require approval from the Colorado Department of Transportation, as what residents see as a city street is actually U.S. Highway 550.
CDOT has been working with the city on the plan, with the intention of resurfacing the highway the length of the corridor in the next few years, according to Nancy Shanks, Region 5 communications manager for CDOT.
“We’ll be ready when the city is,” she said.
Amber Blake, Durango’s director of transportation and sustainability, is thinking the same way.
“We need to be ready with our restriping plan at the very least, and probably where the landscaping and medians go by then, too,” she said.
The Durango Business Improvement District and its members have also been involved in planning, as the district stretches the length of Main.
“We see this as a great improvement,” said Tim Walsworth, executive director of BID. “I’d like to see some kind of welcoming feature up by Animas View Drive for visitors arriving from the north, with some landscaping. We’re hoping this will encourage some redevelopment of north Main.”
The intersection of 19th Street and Main came up most often as a problem area in discussions with the public, Blake said.
“You’ve got the (Durango Public) Library just a couple of blocks away, and a transit stop on Main right there,” she said. “Pedestrians definitely need safer options there.”
There were more questions than comments.
Carolyn Bowra, director of the Animas Museum, wondered if the wide lane in the center for left turns would be retained.
“People are using it as an acceleration lane instead of a turning lane,” she said. “You’ll be stopped there waiting to turn, and there’s some guy speeding toward you and looking over his shoulder. You’re a sitting duck, and all you can do is brace for impact.”
While the lane will remain, it will be narrower, Blake said, and medians at some intersections will also discourage speeding up in the center lane.
Bowra’s other question was about pedestrian crossings.
“Is there going to be something to discourage pedestrians from crossing between signals?” she said. “The denizens of the Spanish Trails are crossing wherever they please rather than walking 20 feet to the signal.”
While there will be some barriers, nothing can stop all pedestrians from jaywalking, Blake said.
The revamping of north Main won’t take place all at once, she said, but as the city and CDOT have funding available for projects. Several sidewalk ramps to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act will go in this year because they’re in the city’s 2015 budget.
The city is accepting comments through Friday.
abutler@durangoherald.com
To comment
Visit www.durangogov.org/northmain to view the draft mobility plan and make comments about it on Virtual City Hall. The public-comment period is open through Friday.
