Groundwork on Main Street

CDOT Surveyors on Main Street in Lamar

CDOT employees have been surveying and mapping portions of Main Street in Lamar.  According to City Administrator, John Sutherland, this is preliminary work that stems from a recent meeting between CDOT and city officials.

Working in Traffic on South Main Street

The Colorado Department of Transpiration has had long range plans for improvements on Main Street for over a year.  Following a failure to appropriate funding for the planned Reliever Route to the east of Lamar last year, CDOT started laying groundwork for a total rebuild of Main Street starting in 2015, about 15 months from now.

Sutherland said preliminary designs call for major construction from the base of the roadway up to the surface.  This will also involve infrastructure including pipeline utilities that run under Highway 287/385 as it passes through downtown Lamar.  The work is set to be done in two stages between 2015 and 2016.  The first improvement project will run between the Lamar Canal and Parkway Street to the south.  The second improvement, in 2016, will continue south, from Parkway to College Road, south of Lamar Community College.

Surveying Laser for Mapping Main Street

The improvement plans are still flexible.  Sutherland said earlier meetings between CDOT officials and community representatives included making the intersections safer for pedestrians with safety islands, having ‘boldout’s at the downtown intersections which would eliminate a parking spot on all sides of the streets just prior to the intersection, removing the median through downtown and help improve the appearance and shopping experience for downtown as well.  Other suggestions have included moving out of the median and developing a bike path which would help provide a buffer between traffic and drivers who park their car along Main Street.

By Russ Baldwin