The City of Durango held a public meeting on September 23, 2024 for the Junction Street Traffic Calming 60% design plans. The meeting received valuable feedback from 52 attendees. A rendering of the 60% design plans and the presentation in Spanish and English can be found in the Document Library. This was the last public meeting for this project.

The next phase of the project will complete the 90% design plans and finalize construction documents for advertisement. Construction is anticipated in summer of 2025.

Project Scope

This project is aimed at slowing speeds along the Junction Street corridor from West 3rd Avenue to County Road 204/Dalla Mountain Park. Along with slowing speeds, the project will address accessibility, pedestrian infrastructure connectivity, and cycling facilities.

This project was brought about by public comments received during Multimodal Advisory Board (MAB) meetings in 2022 and emails to staff from neighborhood residents expressing safety concerns of speeding along the corridor. MAB recommended Junction Street for 2015 Half Cent Sales and Use Tax funding in the 2023 Budget to City Council. City Council adopted the 2023 Budget with $400,000 budgeted for the Junction St Traffic Calming Design project to improve safety, accessibility, and multimodal connectivity along the corridor.

Project Design Budget: $400,000

Project Funding: 2015 Half Cent Sales and Use Tax Funds

Existing Conditions

Minor improvements have been made over the years to the corridor including enhanced crossings at the intersections of Clovis Drive and Calle De Rincon as well as speed radar feedback signs. In 2015, parking was removed along the corridor and bike lanes were added.

Junction Street is classified as a minor arterial and has a posted speed limit of 25 mph. There is additionally a designated school zone from Pinetree Way to West 2nd Avenue with a posted speed limit of 20 mph when school is in session. Speed data from February 2022 shows an average speed of 29.5 mph and an 85th percentile of 34 mph. Over 250 vehicles exceeded 45 mph during the week long speed survey. There have been 6 reported crashes, 2 involving injuries, over the past 5 years along the corridor.

Sidewalk along the corridor is not fully connected with missing sections and no sidewalk on the northern end. At the northern end, Dalla Mountain Park provides outdoor pedestrian and cycling activities, but lacks multimodal connectivity to it along the corridor. Lastly, the corridor is the only access for several popular recreation opportunities like the Colorado Trail and Junction Creek Campground, and is the only access to Durango for county subdivisions like Falls Creek.