County Road 251 in Northeast Durango will soon reopen.
The road, extending east off East 32nd Street toward East Animas Road (County Road 250), will reopen at 5 p.m. Wednesday, according to the city of Durango.
As colder weather settles in ahead of winter, construction is being paused until springtime when new stormwater infrastructure and traffic calming features will be installed between East Animas Village and Metz Lane, Durango Public Works spokeswoman Laura Reick said.
Due to construction, 32nd Street has been closed for most of the year. That includes a stretch of 32nd Street between Holly Avenue and East Animas Village to complete removal of pavement, and to replace or improve subgrade soils. By the end of the project, crosswalks, streetlights and traffic calming features will be installed, she said.
The road design has added dedicated bicycle lanes and a shared-use path next to the road, in addition to a median with landscaping, according to a news release from the city of Durango.
“The point was to copy Florida Road near Chapman, improving pedestrian and bicycle traffic and (slow) down traffic generally,” Reick told The Durango Herald.
She said the city looks to hire a traffic engineer to coordinate traffic through the winter.
“We know that it (construction and work) impacts commuting to school and to work everyday,” she said, addressing community frustrations with the road work coinciding with a similar project on Florida Road. “It’s hard because we have to keep the workers safe too.”
She added some construction on curb and gutter infrastructure can still occur over the winter.
The city’s news release said the stormwater infrastructure includes a new detention basin on 32nd Street.
“Directing water to the detention basin passively improves the water quality of stormwater that flows into the Animas River,” Rieck said in the release.
Temporary stop signs have been taken down on Florida Road except for at Holly Drive, she added.
cburney@durangoherald.com
