City of Durango considers changes to Animas View Drive, including one-way travel (2024)

1½-mile stretch of road is narrow and dangerous for pedestrians

Following a pedestrian death last fall on Animas View Drive in north Durango, the city is considering several proposals to make the road more safe.

The city held its first meeting with residents Nov. 1 to discuss proposed changes.

Since the initial meeting, the city placed flags on the Animas View Drive speed limit signs, repaired a broken streetlight, and has installed pedestrian and bicycle warning signs.

The city hired Toole Design, a company that specializes in pedestrian, bicycle and transit friendly streets to analyze the roado.

In a second meeting on May 22, the city received input from residents of Animas View Drive on Toole Design’s proposals.

Toole Design’s memo cites high speeds, low visibility, limited clear zones and inadequate infrastructure as safety hazards along the road.

Near-term recommendations include speed enforcement cameras and reduced vegetation.

Even those improvements pose difficulties to the city. Speed enforcement cameras, for example, cannot be installed without a new city ordinance. While the city was originally planning a community volunteer event to clear vegetation along the roadway, it is now considering hiring a contractor for the job.

The city does not yet have a timeline or cost estimate for the improvements, but project manager Devin King said it would, in general, cost less than $500,000.

Looking further ahead, possible mid-term improvements could include converting the two-lane road into a one-way road with southbound traffic. Other options include raised crosswalks that act as speed bumps, and improved infrastructure for transit stops.

Speed enforcement and improved transit infrastructure were both proposals that gained significant traction at the most recent meeting. Other proposals, like making the street one way or adding “pinch points” received more mixed opinions.

If the road became a one-way street, there would be room to create a protected lane for bicyclists and pedestrians, which is currently impossible given the topography on both sides of the road. However, residents at the south end of the street would add several miles to their trip home when coming from town.

Transit stops along Animas View Drive and elsewhere are not as safe or as accessible as the city would like them to be, but the city is updating its bus stops as funding becomes available.

Although the speed limit on the road was lowered to 25 mph in 2021, residents still overwhelmingly cite speed as the biggest safety hazard on the road.

Karen Pontuis and Kirby MacLaurin, who live at Animas View Manufactured Home Park co-op, favor measures like speed enforcement cameras, but oppose the idea of making Animas View Drive one way.

“I’m from Los Angeles, speed enforcement cameras work,” Pontuis said. She said she thinks there should be three or four cameras on the 1½-mile stretch.

MacLaurin said if the road was one way, people would likely drive faster as a result of there being no oncoming traffic.

A neighbor, Kathleen Costello, said she favors the one-way proposal. Costello said given the topography surrounding the road, none of the other proposals effectively protect pedestrians and bicyclists.

Costello, who frequently rides her bike on Animas View Drive, favors other speed-reduction measures in addition to the one-way proposal. She said the extended route would not be an inconvenience for her.

“To round that corner and get the view of the valley is not a bad thing, and it actually goes really fast once you pass 37th Street there, because people tend to speed up,” she said.

Any traffic-calming measures, from making the street one way to raised crosswalks, would also increase the response times for law enforcement and other emergency services, according to a Toole Design memo. However, Durango Police Chief Brice Current said the increased safety precautions decrease the need for those services.

“Anytime we can look at prevention, it's going to be more effective than response,” Current said. “While we are concerned about response times, we're always more interested in keeping things from happening – that we don't have to respond to in the first place.”

Toole Design’s memo said: “Major overhauls to the physical characteristics and geometry of the roadway are perhaps the most enduring and effective solution.”

But such a project would cost millions of dollars and take several years to complete.

Residents of Animas View Drive can offer feedback via the city’s website.