CDOT to present revised downtown highway plan

Posted

Colorado Department of Transportation Traffic and Safety Engineer Mike McVaugh will present his revised plans for restriping the highway through downtown Pagosa Springs at next Tuesday night’s town council meeting.

At the Sept. 17 meeting, a number of downtown business owners made it clear that they were opposed to the idea of losing 62 parking spaces along the south side of U.S. 160 between Lewis Street and 3rd Street, which is what McVaugh’s original plan called for.

Town Manager Greg Schulte arranged an exclusive interview for SUN staff on Monday afternoon as McVaugh was traveling through town on his way from Durango to Denver. Town Planner James Dickhoff also took part in the meeting.

“Mike has gone back,” Schulte explained, “and has taken the comments he heard at the meeting to do some revisions. What we’re looking at is a different scenario.” He added that this will be one of the first items on the agenda for the Oct. 6 town council meeting (at 5 p.m. in Town Hall).

McVaugh began by spreading out a number of drawings on the table in Schulte’s office. He said he was willing to let The SUN publish these as long as it was clear that they were very preliminary drafts. In fact, he pointed out that the changes weren’t done with the engineer’s computer program; they were hand drawn with a black pen on top of the original plans presented last month.

The full version of this story is available in the print edition and e-edition of the Pagosa Springs SUN. Subscribe today by calling (970)264-2100 or click here.