Improving the functionality of U.S. Highway 160 for all users – on foot, on a bike or in a vehicle – carries with it a hefty price tag, but the Colorado Department of Transportation advised officials during a presentation last week that the long-range plan could broken down into more manageable and affordable parts.
The planning of Cortez’s Access Control Plan for U.S. 160 spawned a number of public meetings over the summer, wherein the agency acquired feedback from citizens and businesses on what elements they’d like to see improved along a 2.5-mile section of Main Street, said CDOT’s Mike McVaugh.
He noted that all meetings had a fairly good turnout and cross-section of users, and turnout was on-par with what CDOT has seen in other communities undertaking similar initiatives.
When presented with options on what should be tackled first, an overwhelming amount of respondents said downtown improvements – from Maple to Harrison streets – should be a top priority.
“We asked if money was available tomorrow, what projects would they like to see done first, and improvements to downtown came in first, then pedestrian crossing and safety measures, and landscaped medians through the corridor,” said McVaugh.
When developing the official Access Control Plan, CDOT broke the corridor down into three sections, based on the character and uses within each section.
CDOT’s recommendations for the downtown stretch include narrowing all lanes to 10.5 feet; preserving parallel parking on both sides of the roadway; adding bike “sharrows” within the right lanes (street parking eliminates the ability to add bike lanes); installing a 20-foot-long, low-height landscaped median curb between intersections, and maintaining 12-foot left-turn lanes at select full movement intersections (those with streetlights).
For the next segment, from Harrison to Sligo Street, CDOT recommends that the lanes be narrowed down to 10.5 feet; tall curb landscaped medians with tapered turn lanes be installed between Park Street and Mildred Road to limit some of the turn-in, turn-out access near City Market; leaving a few 12-foot left-turn lanes for full movement intersections.
CDOT is also recommends removing the standard striped crosswalk at Park and U.S. 160 and adding a crosswalk with a rectangular rapid flash beacon, and adding a second crosswalk with a rapid rectangular flashing beacon in front of Dairy Queen.
The third segment – the eastern gateway area – is Sligo to Patton streets.
That area, according to the plan, has been recommended for narrower lanes, which McVaugh says would help give subliminal cues to drivers entering city limits to slow down, without actually lowering the speed limit.
“By putting in a raised median, it’s your first chance to slow down when you’re coming from Mancos, so it might help push for a slower speed limit. We have to change the nature of the roadway before we can change the speed limit,” he said.
It would also allow more room to add sidewalks for greater pedestrian mobility. Within this stretch, CDOT also suggests adding buffered bike lanes as well as a landscaped median for a gateway entrance near Denny Lake.
“That 12-foot turn lane can become a nice greenscape, so you could really make that first impression,” said McVaugh.
He did note that while the plan is coming together nicely, it could be a long and expensive road to implementation.
“We completed Durango’s in 2006. It was 2013-2014 until we implemented it. Some of these will take time. I think the quick hit – some of this low-hanging fruit – is going to get this to move quickly,” he said.
McVaugh stressed that adjustments can be made, and CDOT and the city will need an intergovernmental agreement.
The plan must be approved by the City Council, and the city must sign the agreement.