On Oct. 17, the Pagosa Springs Town Council voted 6-1 against the idea of re-striping Hot Springs Boulevard to accommodate on-street, parallel parking.
Town staff considered adding parking along Hot Springs Boulevard to offset an expected loss of downtown parking during the Colorado Department of Transportation’s (CDOT’s) U.S. 160 reconstruction project slated to begin in 2025.
An agenda document on the matter states that the town “commissioned an engineering analysis of accommodating on-street parking along Hot Springs Blvd, between San Juan Street and Springs Street,” and that the town was now considering two options.
Option 1 would remove the center turn lane throughout this section to accommodate 31 on-street parking spaces. Option 2 would preserve the left-hand turn lane at the post office to accommodate 27 parking on-street spaces, the document states.
At the meeting, Mayor Shari Pierce said, “My thought … is I don’t think we need to do this now. The [CDOT] construction is not gonna start until the spring.”
She suggested that perhaps “we could have the parallel parking on one side” of the street.
She added, “But, I don’t think we need to do the painting now, through the winter. I think it would be something we could do once we find out when CDOT’s construction is going to start.”
Police Chief Bill Rockensock suggested that removing the “pocket turn lane” at the post office could lead to “traffic congestion,” expressing that he is amenable to the idea of only re-striping one side of the street for parallel parking.
Council member Mat deGraaf said, “I’m in favor of keeping it the way it is … Many people, like myself, moved here because we like the feeling of open spaces, not congestion.”
Pierce added, “I think if we leave it the same as it is for now, and then investigate those numbers [in a parking assessment] once we talk with The Springs [Resort] and BWD to see what we need to do there, I think that could provide enough parking.”
She also added, for clarification, that if the town does ultimately decide in the future to include on-street parking that she would only favor it on one side of the street.
Council member Matt DeGuise suggested that leaving it a more “open road” would encourage people to drive faster, with council member Gary Williams suggesting the possibility of “some traffic-calming measures on that road.”
Community Development Director James Dickhoff explained that “from a successful standpoint, on traffic calming, the best traffic calming is one lane each direction and reducing the lane width. Those are actually proven ways to calm traffic.”
He added, “What we have right now is a very wide drive lane” where people tend to speed because they feel like they have “more elbow room.”
Pierce again suggested that the council “leave it as is” for now, and then revisit the issue “once we have more information about the construction.”
Council member Leonard Martinez mentioned the “188 parking need gap” the downtown area may face during the construction, saying, “We may need every one of those spaces.”
Martinez advised not making a permanent decision at the meeting, “because when we get into this, we may need the flexibility.”
Dickhoff added that some permanent on-street parking on the road would help to curb illegal parking during events in the area.
When deGraaf made a motion “to not stripe Hot Springs Boulevard for on-street parking and maintain the road as it is,” the motion carried 6-1, with DeGuise opposing the motion.
derek@pagosasun.com
