An unnamed trail on the east side of the Animas River just south of Demon Bridge behind Durango High School will be closed through Friday for replacement of a degraded culvert, fire mitigation and general trail maintenance.
Amy Schwarzbach, Durango natural resources manager, said a culvert along the dirt trail had developed holes and was eroding, which caused sinkholes to form around it that were a safety hazard.
“We actually had sinkholes forming,” she said. “For folks familiar with the trail, there was a big hole next to it that was not safe for recreational trail use. You can definitely stumble in and fall.”
She said culverts are not “forever durable”; they can get crushed, form holes and erode over time. So the city’s Streets and Parks and Recreation departments teamed up to replace the aging culvert.
The trail was widened to about 6 feet to accommodate an excavator used to remove the culvert, but trail runners shouldn’t expect the path to remain that wide.
Schwarzbach said there are no plans to narrow the trail, but it’s expected that nature will reclaim it the old fashioned way as vegetation grows in on the edges.
Because the trail was already closed to pedestrians to excavate and replace the culvert, the city decided to get fire mitigation crews at the scene for routine fuel-thinning work. The buzzing of chain saws in the area south of Demon Bridge should be expected throughout the trail closure, she said.
Dense vegetation lines the trail and poses a possible wildfire risk to nearby homes, a news release says.
In the release, Schwarzbach said the city is replacing the culvert after it received requests from residents to repair the trail because it was causing unsafe conditions.
cburney@durangoherald.com
