A reconfiguration of county roads 250 and 251 in northeast Durango resumed Monday after a winter break – along with morning and afternoon rush hour traffic on Holly Drive and Florida Road.
The County Road 250/251 Improvement Project began in April 2024 and includes a full reconstruction from Holly Drive up County Road 251, through the intersection with East Animas Road (County Road 250) and Metz Lane, and south along a small segment of East Animas Road.
Durango Public Works spokeswoman Laura Rieck said stormwater upgrades and multimodal features such as bike lanes and sidewalks are also part of the project – along with expected traffic delays.
Eastbound motorists on Florida Road will encounter orange cones, detour signs and an electronic message board reading: “Road work ahead. Expect delays. Plan ahead.”
Similar signage and detour instructions are posted along Florida Road/County Road 240 for westbound traffic heading into town.
Rieck said drivers who normally take Florida Road onto County Road 251 should expect up to 15-minute delays and plan accordingly.
“There was a lot of trouble last year with (traffic) getting backed up on Holly and on Florida,” she said.
During the first phase of construction last year, stop signs were used to manage traffic. However, residents and motorists requested electric traffic signals. Mobile signals were installed but later vandalized, with their wiring cut.
All-way stop signs were installed at the Florida Road and Holly Drive intersection and unveiled on Thursday. When The Durango Herald visited Friday morning, at least one driver ran a stop sign.
Rieck said the stop signs were installed Thursday to give drivers time to adjust to the new traffic pattern before schools resume after spring break.
The city considered placing barricades on Holly Drive to indicate a closure, but that would require a revised traffic plan, Rieck said. She added that the city is still interested in a new traffic plan.
Rieck said additional road construction projects are scheduled for the coming months, and the city is looking to hire a traffic engineer to coordinate construction timelines and traffic control.
11 years in the making
The County Road 250/251 Improvement Project is an $8.8 million effort in partnership with La Plata County, which is contributing half the funding, according to the project description on Engage Durango.
On March 11, City Council issued final approval for an annexation of the county roads into the city of Durango with the county’s support.
Durango Development Services Manager Daniel Murray said at a Durango City Council meeting in February the project has been planned over 11 years.
The completed road reconstruction will feature two 11-foot-wide travel lanes with an occasional median, 5- to 6-foot-wide concrete bike lanes on both sides of the road and a concrete multiuse sidewalk with a width of 10 feet, he said.
Murray likened the final product to Florida Road’s design with a concrete multiuse path, a landscape strip and concrete stormwater drain pan that functions as a bike lane, in addition to travel lanes and medians.
Durango Public Works spokeswoman Laura Rieck said the first phase of construction last year included a new stormwater conveyance system on 32nd Street/County Road 251 that ties into a 32nd Street extended detention basin.
In the second construction phase started on Monday, stormwater control measures will be installed, including silt fencing to prevent soil loss, pothole work and relocation of utilities, she said.
“This infrastructure is helping not only take the stormwater away from the Florida Road and 32nd Street area, but it's treating it before it's released into the Animas,” she said.
She said upcoming projects include a North College Drive reconstruction that carried over from last year and affects traffic entering and exiting Florida Road.
The city asked contractors last year not to start daily work on that project until after 8 a.m. so people had time to drop their kids off at school and get to work, and the city made the same request for this construction season.
The North College Drive project is scheduled to start on April 1, although crews may arrive later this month to stage equipment, she said.
She said a variety of road construction projects are scheduled this spring because the city is catching up on deferred maintenance and has struggled to attract bids for smaller projects. Contractors are more interested in submitting bids when projects are packaged together.
The County Road 250/251 Improvement Project is scheduled to complete work on County Road 251 by mid-June, she said. After that, work will shift to the intersection of county roads 250 and 251 and Metz Lane, which will require a new traffic control plan.
She said the city is aiming for the project to be fully completed by the end of construction season.
cburney@durangoherald.com
