{"id":23268,"date":"2025-03-05T17:45:38","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T00:45:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/pump-the-brakes-cdot-changed-some-speed-limits-in-cortez\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:31:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:31:43","slug":"pump-the-brakes-cdot-changed-some-speed-limits-in-cortez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/pump-the-brakes-cdot-changed-some-speed-limits-in-cortez\/","title":{"rendered":"Pump the brakes! CDOT changed some speed limits in Cortez"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Photo
Photo from Crimewatch.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

In an effort to enhance safety and slow down traffic, the Colorado Department of Transportation lowered speed limits on U.S. Highways 491 and 160.<\/p>\n

The changes are concentrated near Montezuma-Cortez Middle School and were inspired by \u201ca recent school zone traffic study,\u201d said Lisa Schwantes, CDOT\u2019s communication manager for Southwest Colorado.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpeed zones on the west end of Main Street that were previously 30 mph were lowered to 25 mph,\u201d said Schwantes.<\/p>\n

\"New
New 25 mph zones in Cortez.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
This change includes:<\/div>\n
Main Street (U.S. Highway 160) between Washington Street and the intersection of U.S. 491.<\/div>\n
North Broadway (U.S. Highway 491) between West North Street and West Fifth Street<\/div>\n

\u201cThe combination of downtown traffic congestion, nearby schools and the convergence of two major highways makes pedestrians especially vulnerable to crashes along this section of roadway in Cortez,\u201d said Jen Allison, CDOT traffic and safety program manager.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe urge both drivers and pedestrians to be alert and use extra caution in this area,\u201d said Allison.<\/p>\n

Sometime in the next few weeks, \u201cnew flashing and high visibility signage\u201d alerting motorists of the new 25 mph zones and associated doubled fines approaching the middle school at North Broadway and Main Street will be posted, said Schwantes.<\/p>\n

Cortez Police officers noticed the reduced speeds on Wednesday morning, March 5.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you travel through Cortez, please be aware of these changes and adjust your speed accordingly,\u201d a Crimewatch post<\/a> from the Cortez Police Department reads.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a crucial step toward creating safer roads for all users, including bicyclists, pedestrians, and drivers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Until March 31, community members are encouraged and reminded to review the draft of Cortez\u2019s Safe Streets Action Plan, which identifies speed as the No. 1 issue on the city\u2019s streets.<\/p>\n

The draft is available online at CortezSafeStreets.com<\/a>, and input will be shared with CDOT to help make city streets safer.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour input is invaluable in shaping a safer transportation system for our community,\u201d the Crimewatch post reads.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Changes are on U.S. Highways 491 and 160<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-23268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23268"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78044,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23268\/revisions\/78044"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23268"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=23268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}