Durango's Animas River Trail Marks 50 Years as Community Recreational Cornerstone

Fifty years and roughly $35 million after its first section broke ground, Durango's Animas River Trail is still not finished, and city officials say the remaining gap to Three Springs may be its most complicated stretch yet.

The trail, a paved multi-use path tracing the Animas River greenway from Oxbow Park and Preserve in north Durango to the Dallabetta Park trailhead near River Road and La Posta Road, stretches just over seven miles through the city. It crosses eight pedestrian bridges, four underpasses and one tunnel without requiring users to cross a single street. Its long-planned southern extension to Three Springs, the development node on Durango's southern edge, remains unbuilt, with city officials offering no firm completion date.

Of the $35 million invested over five decades, roughly $4 million, about 18 percent, came from grants, according to Durango's Parks and Recreation Department.

Councilor Jessika Loyer offered a plain assessment: "It's truly one of Durango's most defining assets."

Sweetie Marbury, who served on Durango City Council from 2011 to 2019, called the trail a work of art and described how residents speak of it: "Lovely, winding, soothing and peaceful." Marbury recalled a walk she and fellow councilors once took along the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad tracks near Memorial Park, surveying how a planned extension might affect adjacent property owners. Nearly every segment of the trail has required years of negotiations before pavement followed.

The trail's most recently completed section, between Memorial Park and Animas City Park via a grade-separated underpass crossing of East 32nd Street, opened in August 2022. That link fully connected Oxbow Park and Preserve to the broader public park network along the river corridor.

The trail serves as the spine of Durango's outdoor network, connecting the community recreation center, the public library, downtown, neighborhoods and schools in a continuous corridor. For Four Corners residents who regularly make the drive from Dove Creek or Rico into Durango for recreation, it has long been among the city's most reliable draws.

The Three Springs connection would push the trail south into one of the region's fastest-growing residential areas, but no completion timeline has been set. The trail has always moved on its own schedule, shaped by funding cycles, land negotiations and shifting community priorities. After half a century, Durango is still building it.