Some of the newest and brightest accessories to downtown Durango’s streets are the new green bike boxes located at various intersections along Camino del Rio. Here, a rider waits for the light to turn at the bike box on 9th Street, one of the more historically problematic intersections./Photo by Steve Eginoire

The green light

New bike lanes top long list of construction projects downtown

by Tracy Chamberlin

Tis the season for tourism and construction. At the same time visitors come to enjoy the sights and scenery of Southwest Colorado, workers also descend on Durango to develop, build and upgrade while the weather is warm.

The combination makes for plenty of traffic trouble of its own, but add in some spanking new features to the roadways and the confusion factor starts to swell.

Some of the newest and brightest accessories to downtown Durango’s streets are the green bike boxes located at the intersections of Camino del Rio and 9th Street, Camino del Rio and College Drive, and Main Avenue and College Drive.

These areas have three specific features courtesy of the Colorado Department of Transportation and the City of Durango: colored bike lanes, bike boxes and 2-stage bike boxes.

Amber Blake, Durango’s Multi Modal Administrator said the 2-stage bike boxes have garnered the most questions. “I have heard a lot of ‘What is this?’”

The high level of traffic on roads like Camino del Rio and College Drive make it difficult for bicyclists to make left turns. “It’s dangerous to cut over two or three lanes of traffic,” Blake said.

The 2-stage boxes are meant to change all that by creating zones where cyclists can safely navigate left turns.

Along with the 2-stage intersections, bright green bike lanes and boxes have been added to give cyclists space on the road.

Cars have been spotted pulling up past the white line where they are instructed to “Wait Here,” and sitting on the green boxes, an area reserved for cyclists. “When the bar says stop here, you’re really supposed to stop there,” Blake said.

The concept of the green boxes is an offshoot of CDOT’s Continuous Flow project at the intersection of Highways 550 and 160.

Overall, Blake said she’s getting positive feedback from cyclists using the boxes. “Bikes are vehicles and belong on the road,” she explained.

Beau Savage, an avid commuter who sold his car a year ago and hasn’t looked back, said he appreciates the city’s efforts to expand and improve the transit system and thinks the new green boxes are helpful. “Anything you can do to eliminate confusion for both parties,” he added.

For Savage, life on two wheels is far less stressful than life on four. He’s able to easily run errands around town, go to the grocery store or hit up the dog park using his bike, or he can carpool to travel longer distances.

Savage lives and works in Durango. He’s able to save money and enjoy biking as a stress reliever. “It’s just worth it for me,” he said.

The colored lanes aren’t the only projects currently under construction. The City, County and CDOT all have tasks on the summer to-do list.

For the city, two projects falling under the Multi Modal Master Plan are upgrades to the 24th Street and Brookside Park and Second Avenue and 15th Street areas.

The start of the Brookside Park project has been pushed back a bit, only receiving one bid during the original outreach.

It was all about timing. Hoping to complete construction before schools opened their doors in the fall, the small project was competing with the plethora of larger ones set for summer. In order to make the deadline, contractors would need to hire additional workers,
essentially blowing the budget and the chance to make a competitive bid.

The two-stage bike box uses turn queue boxes to offer cyclists a safe way to make left turns at multi-lane signalized intersections, moving from the through bike lane to a green box on the right side of the bike lane and then across the intersection./Courtesy photo

Therefore, the City chose to push back construction to September and reopen the bidding process then. During the first meeting for round two, Blake said six contractors showed up.

The improvements to 2nd Avenue and 15th Street are still in the design process, which is 60 percent complete and construction is still on the books for November when the train takes a hiatus.

Shovel-ready projects aren’t the only thing the City is not short on. Transit riders are also lining up in high numbers with 623,000 last year alone.

According to Blake, ridership on the city’s transit system has plateaued, which she calls a good sign. With consistent scheduling and double-digit increases over the past few years, it means people are using the system regularly.

At this point, the City has no plans to grow its mass transit. The only expansion set for the next five years is adding stops and routes to Twin Buttes, something that was already in the works.

More growth would require more money, and the City simply doesn’t have the funds right now for such a substantial investment, Blake said. “We’re happy with where we are.”

With all the work going on around Durango, the City scheduled a Community Forum during Clean Commute Week from 5-7 p.m. on Tues., June 24, at Carver Brewing Co., 1022 Main Ave. Representatives will be on hand to answer questions on projects, like the green bike boxes, the Continuous Flow Intersection and more.