{"id":22002,"date":"2025-05-30T01:10:58","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T01:10:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-seeks-feedback-on-speed-management-plan\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:10:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:10:22","slug":"durango-seeks-feedback-on-speed-management-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-seeks-feedback-on-speed-management-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Durango seeks feedback on speed management plan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The city of Durango is holding a neighborhood meeting at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at St. Paul\u2019s Lutheran Church to gather feedback from residents about how to address speeding and pedestrian and cyclist safety on Junction Street. (Christian Burney\/Durango Herald)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The city of Durango is developing a plan to curb speeding and reduce crashes on city streets.<\/p>\n

Multimodal Manager DevinKing said the plan will significantly impact how traffic speeds are managed in the city.<\/p>\n

The plan explores<\/a> traffic-calming features such as chicanes \u2013 road curves that discourage speeding \u2012 roundabouts and curb extensions.<\/p>\n

The city has been gathering feedback from residents.<\/p>\n

A survey that closes Friday<\/a> asks residents about their travel habits, appropriate speed limits for different streets, and their top concerns when traveling around the city.<\/p>\n

This summer and fall, the city will install temporary traffic-calming features in three locations known for speeding. The city will seek feedback and evaluate the features\u2019 effectiveness, King said Tuesday at an Engage Durango forum.<\/p>\n

The demonstrations will include narrower lanes and buffered bike lanes on Goeglein Gulch Road between Hillcrest Drive and a roundabout at Fort Lewis Drive; a chicane on Riverview Drive between the two Animas Place intersections; and back-in angled parking and curb extensions on Seventh Street between East Third and East Sixth avenues.<\/p>\n

Because the demonstrations are temporary, they will use paint and white flex posts, similar to those used to represent proposed features on Main Avenue for the Downtown\u2019s Next Step project, he said.<\/p>\n

The locations were selected because of frequent speeding. King said the multimodal division has received numerous complaints about speeders from residents near Hillcrest Drive and Jenkins Ranch Road on Goeglein Gulch.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The police department) has pulled multiple people over for citations in that area,\u201d he said. \u201cThen there\u2019s also just a lack of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure there. It\u2019s an opportunity for us to try to meet both of those needs and conduct a pilot project.\u201d<\/p>\n

The same goes for Riverview Drive and Seventh Street. The multimodal division has conducted speed surveys and will repeat them when the demonstrations are live to measure impact.<\/p>\n

Back-in angled parking, like that proposed on Seventh Street, has grown in popularity over the past decade, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re backing into that space and the people behind you see you, you are visible to them, and as you\u2019re backing in \u2012 especially these days with back-in cameras \u2012 you can see behind you as you pull into that spot,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He added that when pulling out, drivers have a clear view of what\u2019s in front of them.<\/p>\n

Challenges to consider<\/div>\n

King said the plan considers six key factors that play into holistic speed and traffic management: commuter patterns, bicycle and pedestrian safety, transit and tourism trends, emergency and evacuation access, seasonal maintenance, and intersection operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea is, how do we address our streets from a holistic perspective?\u201d he said. \u201cIf we\u2019re making changes over here, what does that impact look (like) over here and how do we be consistent throughout the city?\u201d<\/p>\n

Why does Durango need a new approach to speed management?<\/p>\n

King said it\u2019s about preventing crashes \u2013 and, in turn, injuries and fatalities.<\/p>\n

He said the risk of death from a person being struck by a vehicle rises from 10% at 25 mph to 90% at 58 mph.<\/p>\n

Between 2016 and 2021, there were 71 injury crashes in Durango, seven of which were fatal, he said. In 2024, there were 416 total crashes, with 59 resulting in injuries \u2013 16 of those involving cyclists and pedestrians.<\/p>\n

That same year, he said Durango Police Department conducted more than 2,000 traffic stops for speeding and issued more than 750 citations.<\/p>\n

King said strategies to address speeding include education, enforcement and traffic-calming features. Other strategies include the use of automated speed and red-light enforcement cameras, protected bike lanes, and road diets \u2013 such as the one planned for College Drive and East Eighth Avenue<\/a> this summer.<\/p>\n

cburney@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

A previous story misspelled the first name of Devin King, multimodal manager for the city of Durango.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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