The Colorado Department of Transportation plans to resurface North Main Avenue and add bike lanes. The process will narrow vehicle lanes and likely slow traffic down. With an already narrow roadway on the Main Ave. Bridge, CDOT is still trying to figure out how to make it all work./Photo by Jennaye Derge

Finding a way

City seeks N. Main fixes, sustainable budget solution

Slip, sliding away: Winter Bike-to-Work Day returns Friday

by Tracy Chamberlin

Durango isn’t alone in the battle for bucks. Many communities struggle to find ways to fund public transportation in the long term, and most are forced to make tough choices. 

Whether it’s Durango, New Orleans or any other community across the nation, the revenues from public transit seldom cover the cost of operation.

Last year, the trolley fare went from free to $1. Even with those additional revenues, the city’s transportation budget still came up $366,000 short.

Moving funds from other transportation services and bringing in an additional $160,000 from the lodger’s tax helped to fill the gap this year, according to Amber Blake, Durango’s director of transportation and sustainability.

But, it’s only a short term fix. Blake said the cost per trip, which covers the amount needed to run the transit service divided by the number of riders, was $3.80 in 2014 and $3.97 in 2015. The charge for a ride, however, is only $1.

“If we charge the true cost of the trip,” she said, “we couldn’t have true ridership.”

Blake also said 80 percent of riders are dependent on the city’s transit system. “It allows them the opportunity to live here and have a job here,” she added.

In an effort to cut costs, Blake said her department is tightening its belt wherever it can. In January, the Transit Center changed its operating hours and is now closed on Saturdays.

Trimming here and there, though, can’t completely fill the gap. The biggest money-maker – parking – brings in only about half of what the City needs to operate all of its transportation services.

Some suggested funding solutions  include a transportation tax, impact fees for new development, increased parking fees, and partnerships, like ones the city currently has with Mercy Medical Center and Fort Lewis College.

The city recently renewed its contract with FLC, which offers students free transit passes covered by a portion of their student fees. Students from the college make up a quarter of all transit riders.

An increase in parking rates might not be possible, since they’ve already been raised. “I’m not sure raising them again would be the answer,” City Councillor Keith Brant said in an interview Tuesday.

The City Council directed staff to come up with ideas to make the transit budget sustainable and present them at a study session at 4 p.m., Tues., March 8, at City Hall.

Although study sessions don’t include public comment, the public is welcome to attend. 

The funding conundrum, though, is about keeping up with daily operating costs, not paying for improvements to roadways, sidewalks or parking.

For example, the city is looking at putting sidewalks along Roosa Avenue near the Skate Park and Animas River Trail, which is often used by pedestrians getting from the nearby neighborhoods to the River Trail.

This project would be paid for with $100,000 in revenues from the ½-cent Parks and Recreation Sales Tax approved by voters last year. With the funds secure, the city is asking for engineering proposals.

Another source of funding for city projects and capital improvements is state and federal grants. This year, for example, the city is adding several new buses to the transit fleet, all paid for with state grants.

Northern exposure

As the city seeks out sustainable solutions to the operating budget deficits, it’s also moving forward with an update to the Multi Modal Transportation Master Plan.

The plan addresses the future of transportation in Durango including accessibility, connectivity and parking.

One part of the plan is to address North Main Avenue. In January, the City Council approved a North Main Corridor study, officially making it an amendment to the Multi Modal Master Plan and part 
of the city’s future roadmap.

Recommendations from the study involve adding ramps to sidewalks for pedestrians and to make them ADA compliant; reworking the intersections at 19th, 22nd and 32nd streets; and, adding bike lanes along the entire North Main corridor.

Improvements to the 19th Street intersection include installing a pedestrian crossing, similar to the HAWK at Camino del Rio and 12th Street, and building a concrete median, called a “pedestrian refuge,” on the south side.

At 22nd Street, the big change is to the cross streets. The right-hand turn lane on 22nd and Alamo would be removed, making room for one vehicle lane and one bike lane.

The 32nd Street intersection would get an extra lane on the east side of 32nd, making two left turn lanes and one right turn lane onto Main Avenue.

Also, a median could be added south of the intersection to prevent left turns out of the North City Market parking lot, as well as a narrow concrete median to direct cars turning into that same lot entrance. The idea is to improve traffic flow and discourage jaywalking across Main between City Market and Spanish Trails.

Although these ideas are a part of the Multi Modal Master Plan, no one’s ready to put shovels in the ground. Before any work can begin, the city needs to find funding, get public feedback on design options and approve those designs. Only then can real construction begin.

The next opportunity to comment on the North Main proposals, or any of the Multi Modal projects, comes Mon., Feb.29, from 6:45-8 p.m. at Ska Brewing in Bodo Park.

There is one change noted in the North Main study already on the calendar – the addition of bike lanes. But it’s not the city making the changes, it’s the Colorado Department of Transportation.

Starting at the intersection of College Drive and Camino del Rio, and moving north along Main Avenue all the way to Animas View Drive, CDOT is planning a micro-grinding project to improve the roadway.

Micro-grinding is a lot like resurfacing, only more effective. The process creates textured pavement, much like the surface of Highway 550 in the Bodo Park area. Mike McVaugh, CDOT’s traffic and safety engineer for Region 5, said the process won’t leave behind scars in the roadway where the old lanes once were, which could be confusing to drivers.

The project is broken into two phases, the first of which is targeted to begin mid-February next year, starting at College and working up to 17th Street.

Additional ideas coming down the pike include revamping Main Avenue downtown, which entails dropping from four lanes to three and adding bike lanes. Parallel parking would still be available.

Another project is to relocate the parking meters along Narrow Gauge Avenue. They currently sit on the sidewalk, taking up space and preventing accessibility. The city plans to move them off the sidewalk, likely butting up against it near the train tracks.

The meter move isn’t the only thing the city is considering along Narrow Gauge. In an effort to address parking, they’re looking at rolling out a parking permit program for downtown employees.

With the permit, anyone working downtown would be able to park between the 700 - 1200 blocks on Narrow Gauge for $75 a month. Blake said they’re still taking input on the idea, which could be available this spring. Anyone who wants to comment can email her at amber.blake@durangogov.org.