Durango and Parking: A Complicated Relationship

Parking in Durango, especially downtown, especially on warm summer Friday nights, can be a nightmare. As the city continues to grow and more people continue to visit, the city of Durango plans to adopt a new comprehensive parking plan to better address the changing needs of parking. San Juan Basin Public Health wants to hear from La Plata and Archuleta County residents about local public and environmental needs in the community. And the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has announced that community COVID 19 testing sites are now closed. But that doesn't mean local testing is no longer available. You're watching the Local News Network brought to you by StoneAge and the Community Foundation serving Southwest Colorado. I'm Wendy Graham Settle. The comprehensive parking management plan presented to the city of Durango in December 2022 was submitted to the city for adoption on January 17th. The plan looks to address current parking and transportation infrastructure, funding needs and better communication about parking availability. The mission of the parking plan is that places in Durango should be designed around people with a transportation network that supports all modes of travel. The new plans aim to incorporate Durango's pedestrian friendly environment. Balance between private and public sector use, encouraged the use of alternate transportation and balance daily parking needs with times of high demand for parking. The parking plan created a list of recommendations based on observed needs, projected use ease of access, and community input including multiple public comments sessions prior to going to the city for adoption. The comprehensive parking plan is available online as well as a current map of downtown parking with meter fees at durangoparking.com. San Juan Basin Public Health has released a community health survey for residents of La Plata and Archuleta Counties. The survey asks residents to note priorities for local public and environmental health for use in creating a five year public health improvement plan. The survey is open until April 7th and is available in both English and Spanish. To fill out the survey and learn more about how the anonymous information will be used, visit sjbpublichealth.org. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment made the decision to close community COVID-19 testing sites on January 15th noting a decreased use of sites over the past several months. The closure affects the La Plata Fairgrounds testing site which closed on January 14th. Since November 2022, community testing sites like the Fairground site saw only an average of three to 6% overall use. While the community site may no longer be available, there are still options for local testing. San Juan Basin Public Health is offering free testing kits at its Durango and Pagosa Springs offices and information about other testing services can be found on its website@sjbpublichealth.org. Government is also offering free test kits for limited time and those can be ordered online at covid.gov/tests. Thank you for watching this edition of the Local News Roundup. I'm Wendy Graham Settle.