MANCOS — For a brief time Tuesday, more than 200 grieving Mancos-area residents accomplished what the Colorado Department of Transportation has been reluctant to do for the past decade: slow traffic on U.S. Highway 160 as it flows through the heart of this growing town.

Demonstrators carrying signs and chanting "We want a light" spent their noon hour circling the two faded crosswalks that are supposed to protect pedestrian traffic at the highway’s intersection with Colorado Highway 184, the only connection between the town’s north and south sides.

Most Mancos residents believe that the highway’s 50-mph speed limit is far higher than they believe reasonable, especially in light of recent deaths.

On Friday, 12-year-old Kiley Duran was killed when she was hit by a pickup as she was trying to cross the highway on foot. The driver of the westbound truck, who was not cited for any traffic infraction, was actually traveling below the speed limit, according to the Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office, but was apparently unable to see the girl in time due to the setting sun.

The death of Duran, whose funeral was held before the protest Tuesday, was the fourth at or near the intersection in recent years, and the demonstration was aimed at preventing any more.

"They keep saying if there’s a certain amount of people who die here, then they’ll put up a stoplight and lower the speed limit," said Chesney Frazier, who was pushing a friend’s baby in a stroller and carrying a sign declaring, "I love my town."

"Every other town has their speed limits at 40 or 35 —it’s like Mancos isn’t important enough to get our speed limit lowered," Frazier said.

"How many more people have to die to fill their quota?" she said. "The people who are making the decisions don’t live here and don’t have kids here —mine’s four, and before she goes to school, I want a stoplight."

But, according to CDOT Region 5 Director Richard Reynolds, a stoplight at the deadly intersection is at least three years away.

Reynolds announced in a news release —issued at about the time the demonstration got underway —that Wilson and Company of Denver has been selected to design improvements for the intersection. That design work will begin in April, Reynolds said.

"It is likely the improvements . . . will include a traffic signal and redesign of the frontage-road system, all directed toward improving the safety and operation of the intersection," Reynolds said. Funding for the $6.2 million project is earmarked for fiscal years 2003 and 2004.

Reynolds had explained in an interview Monday that approximately $1 million of this amount will be budgeted for fiscal year 2003, which begins in July 2002, and will be used for buying right-of-ways and start-up costs, with the remaining $5 million becoming available the following July for the actual construction.

The Mancos intersection was rated fifth on a priority list of 35 junctions that need improvement, he said, based on factors such as the number of "accidents, congestion, conformance to current standards, potential growth, type of usage [passenger cars, school vehicles], Highway of National Significance, constructability . . . [and] public interest."

However, Reynolds said he’d also discussed with Sheriff Joey Chavez short-term safety measures that could be taken in the interim.

Chavez, who was present at Tuesday’s demonstration along with two dozen officers from his department, the Cortez Police Department and the Colorado State Patrol, outlined what he wants done.

"I know that there are plans for this intersection, but that’s a long way off, and this is a dangerous intersection," Chavez said. "What I’ve suggested to [Reynolds] is a 35-mph speed limit through the intersection, update the flashing yellow signs with the 35-mph limit on them and put in rumble strips to slow the traffic down and get their attention.

"[CDOT] has assured me they’re going to look at it —their heads aren’t turned and they are listening, so I think that’s a plus," he added, "but it needs to be done immediately."

Chavez stressed that the large police presence was in no way intended to chill the demonstration. In fact, several officers were seen flashing the demonstrators signs of support while they controlled traffic.

"I support the people’s concerns here 100 percent, because they’re my concerns as sheriff," he said. "I want people to know the reason I called in this many law officers is for their safety —we have a lot of pedestrians and I don’t want to see anyone get hurt."

Others at the demonstration also questioned CDOT’s policy of requiring a certain level of accidents to demonstrate a need for change.

"It’s a shame it takes a child losing her life to get a streetlight," said Cee Jay Johnson, a good friend of Kiley Duran’s mother, "and they should lower the speed limit —this is a highway, but this is a community and the kids go across it."

Wendy Whicher, a candidate for the Mancos town board, said three specific things should be done in the short term:

• Reduce the speed limit, preferably to 35 mph, but at least to 45 mph.

• Mark right-turn lanes on both sides of the intersection more clearly.

"They need to say ‘right turn only, no passing’," she said, since motorists often drive on the right to pass vehicles waiting to turn left at the intersection now.

• Install a flashing light above the intersection —yellow for 160, red for 184.

State representatives are putting pressure on the Colorado Department of Transportation to make immediate improvements at the Highway 160/184 intersection at Mancos.

But both Rep. Mark Larson, R-Cortez, and Sen. Jim Dyer, D-Durango, said much of the improvement work is already in the pipeline and there may be no way to significantly speed it up.

Larson said he wants something done to slow down traffic through Mancos to prevent another deadly accident like the one Friday in which 12-year-old Kiley Duran was killed.

Larson said he encouraged people in CDOT’s Region 5 office, which covers Southwest Colorado, to find short-term solutions that can be implemented before 2002, the year when CDOT will have money to begin right-of-way work and other preliminary construction at the intersection.

"What I’m pushing for is trying to do some short-term work, at least stringing a light across, signage, rumble strips," Larson said. "I’m not sure what all these options cost or if they will work, but I’m pushing for something in the short-range."

CDOT has chosen Wilson and Company, a Denver firm, to design the intersection improvements and the firm is scheduled to begin design work in April, said Nancy Shanks, public information officer for CDOT.

The construction will most likely include installing a traffic light at Highway 160 and Highway 184, and redesigning the frontage roads near the intersection, according to a news release from CDOT. Part of the money for the $6 million project will be available in 2002 and the rest in 2003.

"Something has been in the works, and it’s hard to speed up the process until the funds become available," Shanks said.

Some of the more than 200 people who marched in a peaceful protest Tuesday at the intersection said they planned to ask CDOT and their representatives to speed the process of installing the light.

Dyer said he has asked CDOT officials to search for short-term solutions that may make the intersection safer. He said he does not want to "give any false hope" that the intersection could be completed ahead of schedule.

"I know there’s a problem there and I’m pressing them to get it solved, but I don’t know what form that’s going to take," Dyer said. "Mainly right now I just feel really terrible about the little girl’s death and the situation there that needs to be fixed."

Larson said he does not think there is anything he can do to quicken installation of the stop light, either.