A reconfiguration of College Drive and East Eighth Avenue scheduled for spring and summer will reduce lanes, add bike lanes and improve sidewalks and transit stops.
Durango Multimodal Manager Devin King said the project is designed to make College Drive and East Eighth Avenue safer and more accessible to pedestrians and cyclists.
On College Drive, the project extends from East Third Avenue to East Eighth Avenue, and on East Eighth Avenue it extends from Second Street to College Drive – covering a total of nine city blocks.
Construction will reduce the number of lanes on College Drive from four to three, including a center left-turn lane, decreasing the number of lanes pedestrians must cross.
Pullouts – spaces along the road intended for buses to pull out of traffic – will be added to transit stops to improve traffic flow, King said. New pedestrian shelters will be built at the transit stops and sidewalks will be improved 0.2 miles to transit stops, or about half the corridor, including the south half of College Drive and the west side of East Eighth Avenue.
Additionally, a pedestrian island with trees will be installed at the intersection of Third Street and East Eighth Avenue, and a span wire signal at the intersection of College Drive and East Eighth Avenue will be replaced with a mast arm signal.
The total project will cost $2.1 million, funded by a Highway Safety Improvement Grant, a FASTER Grant, Multi Modal Options Funds and a local match from the city’s 2015 half-cent sales tax fund, according to the city’s Engage Durango website.
King said the project was first proposed in 2016 after neighborhood residents raised concerns about speeding and pedestrian safety and connectivity. Park Elementary School at 510 East Sixth Ave. is just one block south of College Drive.
“We went out and conducted a traffic study of College and Eighth, looking at the proposal of what's called a road diet, which is where you change the road configuration,” he said.
According to the Engage Durango website, “road dieting” and reducing lanes is a cost-effective way to improve traffic flow and safety.
College Drive and East Eighth Avenue have average daily traffic of 10,558 and 13,629 vehicles, respectively, and road dieting has shown to be effective on roads with twice the traffic, according to the city.
King said the project was recently awarded to a contractor, and a construction schedule is being developed.
Durango resident Alan Millar said at a Feb. 19 Durango City Council meeting that as president of a homeowners association near East Eighth Avenue, he found that residents responded well to the project after learning the details.
“All the responses were in favor of the project, which would be a real boon to our neighborhood,” he said.
Improvements at the intersection of Third Street and East Eighth Avenue drew particular attention from residents, as it serves as a primary access point to the Horse Gulch trail system, where pedestrians and cyclists cross daily, he said.
“We should be encouraging folks to access these trails without using their cars and make it easy and safer for them,” he said. “By slowing traffic down, it would also decrease road noise and frankly make it a lot easier for kids to get to Park Elementary.”
cburney@durangoherald.com
