The City completed a traffic calming construction project, a road diet, at the end of July 2021. Traffic calming uses physical design elements to reduce vehicle speed and improve safety for pedestrians. This project reduced Main Street from three driving lanes to two driving lanes between Denver Avenue and Edison Avenue. The road was restriped and curb stops were added as a physical barrier to create 11’ of programmable space on each side of the road.

After feedback from the public and staff discussions with CDOT, City Council decided to move the curb stops back 1’ on each side of the street and striped 6” of buffer space between the driving lanes and the on-street parking. 

Although the change exemplified how much Council and City Staff value feedback from the public, the small change caused vehicular speed to increase almost immediately. Downtown business owners serving on the Main Street Advisory Committee requested staff research measures to counter the speed increase by increasing police presence downtown and/or by increasing fines for speeding. After discussions with local law enforcement agencies about various remedies, staff decided that increasing fines on U.S. Highway 160 downtown between Denver Avenue and Richardson Avenue could be a powerful deterrent to speeding and help restore the increased pedestrian safety.   The Police Department will also be increasing enforcement efforts.