Durango, CO: **The City of Durango’s Multimodal team has completed the installation of two temporary, 12-week demonstration projects this week on Goeglein Gulch Road and Riverview Drive.
These temporary installations are key elements in the development of the city's Speed Management Plan, and one of three public engagement components of the plan. The first was the digital survey, which gauged community sentiment on speeding and informed the demonstration designs and locations. The second is the current demonstration phase, supported by in-person captured feedback and a midway survey. The third will be a community feedback opportunity on the drafted plan when it goes to City Council for adoption in the fall.
Residents will be engaged and consulted before the implementation of any future traffic calming or speed reduction strategy to determine whether there is neighborhood support. No permanent solutions will be installed without community engagement and demonstrated need.
The projects are supported by a federal Safe Streets and Roads for All grant secured by the city in 2023, which allows Durango to test traffic-calming designs directly on local street networks. The demonstrations utilize temporary, removable materials such as chicanes (artificial curbside curves) and buffered bike lanes to study their impact on driver behavior and comfort for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians.
The temporary installations are designed to capture actionable data regarding:
Speed reduction: Whether the treatment is successful in reducing speeds and how much it reduces speeds.
Replication: Whether the treatments are replicable on other streets (on a case-by-case basis if the residents of those streets support the installation of the treatment).
Maintenance: Whether the treatments can be properly maintained by the city’s Streets Division.
Impacts: What the impact is to the neighborhood, and what the impacts are to emergency response.
The Speed Management Plan, once formally adopted, will provide a “toolbox" of vetted traffic-calming strategies that were reviewed and coordinated with internal and external stakeholders across Durango, including the Durango Police Department, Durango Fire Protection District, the city’s Streets Division, and Durango School District. This approach ensures that future capital infrastructure investments and quick-build solutions prioritize safety, accessibility, and context-appropriate strategies.
Residents can learn more, monitor updates, and share their feedback by visiting the project webpage on Engage Durango.
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Media Contact**Tom SluisPublic Information Officer Phone: (970) 375-5090Email: Tom Sluis