Status

The City of Durango’s Multimodal Division has been working with residents to address opportunities for improving safety and addressing speeding concerns on Animas View Drive. The City installed flashing ‘Bicycle and Pedestrian In Street’ signs in the summer of 2024 as a near-term improvement and temporary speed cushions in the spring and summer of 2025 as a mid-term improvement along the corridor. These solutions were identified based on concerns raised by residents in the area and their preference for interim solutions (before a permanent Capital Improvement Project). Speed cushions were selected as a pilot project because they are designed to be gentle enough to drive over at a speed of 25 MPH comfortably, but would encourage people traveling faster than 25 MPH to slow down, and emergency vehicles can drive over speed cushions without needing to slow down to maintain fast emergency response, which were both priorities for the community.

In July of 2025, the City installed five sets of temporary speed cushions along Animas View Drive for three months to test their effectiveness on traffic calming and safety concerns. These speed cushions were in place until November 13, 2025.

Speeds Measured

• Before the speed cushions were installed: During the last week of May, the average speed was 25.8 MPH, and the 85th-percentile speed was 30.6 MPH.
• During the speed cushion pilot project: During the first week of November, after unrelated Atmos construction was completed on the roadway, the average speed was 26.3 MPH, and the 85th-percentile speed was 26.3 MPH.

This data shows us that the average speed before the speed cushions were installed was about 0.5 MPH slower than the average speed measured while the speed cushions were in place. Conversely, the 85th percentile speed before the speed cushions were installed was about 4.3 MPH faster than while the speed cushions were in place.

What we Learned

The speed cushions were removed on November 13, 2025. The installation left visible marks and caused minor impacts on the roadway that can be observed today. The City’s Streets Division is actively monitoring these marks to ensure road quality is not compromised and plans to patch these areas with asphalt. Pilot projects are an opportunity to measure the success of the speed control devices’ effect on traffic patterns and speeding, and to measure the impacts on roadway infrastructure, including whether any damage was caused. This pilot project allowed the City to measure both travel and infrastructure impacts and will help provide a baseline of considerations for recommended for future improvements and pilot projects. The City acknowledges the roadwork completed on Animas View Drive by Atmos may have affected both measured travel speeds and contributed to additional roadway damage due to the larger truck traffic on the speed cushions during the time they were installed.

Next Steps

The City remains committed to working with the Animas View Drive residents to find options to enhance the road’s safety and traffic. These improvements could include lighting, crosswalks, or other components that have not been fully implemented.

About the Project

This project is to implement near-term and mid-term improvements to Animas View Drive prior to a long-term capital improvement project being constructed. Recent neighborhood concerns regarding safety for pedestrians and cyclists along Animas View Drive have brought multiple city departments together to investigate and implement quick strategies. There have been multiple injury crashes along the street including a pedestrian fatality in 2023, which make this initiative a high priority for the City.

Animas View Drive used to be a highway, but over the years has evolved into a residential street with rural characteristics and no dedicated space for pedestrians and cyclists. The existing conditions include several driveways, 2 lanes, minimal shoulder with ditches, no sidewalks or bike lanes, and no parking lanes. The speed limit was reduced by the City Council from 35 mph to 25 mph in 2021 in response to neighborhood requests. While this led to an initial reduction in speeds, speeds have gone back up, with the 85th percentile speed being 36 mph.

Reducing speeds without constant enforcement requires design changes to the street to force drivers to slow down. Some opportunities to address speeding include painting permanent crosswalks as part of the general improvements to the area and maintaining surrounding landscaping for sight lines and visibility. Another mechanism discussed with the community was the speed cushion pilot project, as summarized above. Speed cushions differ from speed bumps and humps in that they are designed for the roadway speed limit and have cut-throughs allowing for unimpeded traffic flow for emergency response vehicles and bicycles. To learn more about speed cushions, visit the Federal Highway Administration's Traffic Calming ePrimer toolbox at https://highways.dot.gov/safety/speed-management/t....

To assist with the City's efforts, city staff involved traffic engineers from Toole Design to evaluate the near-term and mid-term improvements that came from the November 1, 2023, neighborhood meeting. Toole Design's evaluation and recommendations can be found here.