KSJD Local Newscast - October 15, 2024

The Colorado Department of Transportation is planning to designate a new school zone on a portion of U.S. Highway 491 and Main Street at the west end of Cortez. At the City Council’s workshop on October 8, CDOT Region 5 traffic and safety resident engineer David Peyton provided details via Zoom. The school zone will start just south of Third Street on the highway, continue around a curve onto Main Street, and wrap up at Maple Street. That area is near Montezuma-Cortez Middle School. The new zone will mean an extended zone where the speed limit will be 25 mph and some other speed reductions nearby. It will also require a number of signage changes both in the school zone and approaching it. Among those changes is replacement of any signs that say “Stop for pedestrians in crosswalk.” Peyton said those signs are not backed by state law and should say “Yield to pedestrians.” He said all the new signs will likely be installed in the spring or summer of 2025. Council member Matt Keefauver, who used to teach at the middle school, said the new speed zone was good news. He said, “That section from Third to Maple has been out of control forever. People drive entirely too fast.”