Rising Fuel Costs Squeeze Durango Businesses, Services, and Government Operations

Daren Caldwell has held the per-mile rate at Animas Transportation steady through the last few gas spikes, but the math is getting harder to ignore. With La Plata County's average for regular unleaded reaching $4.336 per gallon and Durango setting an all-time local record of $4.356, Caldwell is weighing whether to raise his rate from $4 to $4.25 per mile. "I don't want to be more expensive than anybody else," he said. "That's a big jump, you know? It kind of depends on how long this goes on."

The rise is tied to the war in Iran, which rattled global oil markets and pushed Colorado's statewide average up nearly 20% in a single month to $3.966 per gallon, according to AAA. Diesel climbed even faster, rising 30%. The national average topped $4 per gallon, though prices varied locally: the Speedway at 20th Street and Main Avenue held at $3.79.

Caldwell said a slow spring break reduced mileage enough that it might offset some of the higher fuel costs, at least until his March expenses are processed in mid-April. If a price increase becomes unavoidable, he would add 25 cents per mile. "I'm hoping, probably like everybody else, that once all of this winds down things will go back to semi normal," he said. "But you know, prices will never go back to where they were. $2.43 was the low I remember."

At Durango-based Lucky Services, owner and founder Jessika Loyer said the pressure is already showing up in her workforce. "We've had a number of cleaners and errand runners express concerns about taking those farther jobs due to fuel costs," she said. Her company makes on-site visits across the region for cleaning and errand services, meaning longer drives are now measurably more expensive for drivers.

Nationally and in La Plata County, platforms including Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash introduced temporary fuel relief programs for their drivers in response to the spike.

Government operations face a slower-moving version of the same problem. The Durango Police Department, which operates 50 vehicles including 15 patrol cars, spent $4,682 on fuel in February and $4,197 in March. Spokesperson Amanda Garrison said the department had not yet felt the broader effects as of early April, partly because the city's Fleet Department purchases fuel in bulk. City Manager José Madrigal said the full impact remains unclear: "We don't really know quite the effects yet. This is something that's just begun to ratchet up here in the past two, three weeks."

Durango School District is already incorporating the trend into budget planning for the 2026-27 school year, with officials monitoring fuel projections as the district expands its electric bus fleet. One electric bus was in service as of late March; three more are expected by fall 2026.

Tim Walsworth, executive director of the Durango Business Improvement District, pointed to the geographic reality that makes the region especially exposed. "Even a restaurant that could get all their food from local farms and ranches, they still need aprons and soap and plates and forks and napkins," he said. "A lot of that is going to come in from restaurant suppliers on trucks." In a community where nearly everything arrives by road, the pump price has a long reach.