Since August 26, 2026, Granby has had a working traffic signal at 4th Street and Agate Avenue. That's the U.S. 40 stretch downtown that serves as the town's main street. Under state rules, 4th Street didn't qualify for that light on its own. It qualified because the town agreed to change 6th Street, two blocks east, into an intersection where left turns onto and off of the highway are blocked by a center median.
So the signal and the 6th Street median are one project. Later this month that project gets its first ski-season holiday week. Granby Ranch opens for the 2026-27 season on Wednesday, November 25, and the Parade of Lights comes down Agate Avenue three days later.
4th Street failed the state's signal test
The debate is older than most people remember. In December 2019, Sky-Hi News reported that traffic on Granby's main street had been "a discussion for years and a subject of multiple studies," and that Mayor Paul Chavoustie had reminded the town board that heavy summer traffic remained a concern. The town had set aside money in its budget for a possible signal in 2020. Because Agate Avenue is a state highway, the Colorado Department of Transportation had to approve any light, even one paid for with town money.
The numbers didn't line up with what locals wanted. A 2019 Traffic Operational Assessment by Bowman Consulting found that 4th Street was the intersection "many in town would prefer" for a light, but it didn't meet CDOT's warrants, the volume thresholds a signal has to clear. The 6th Street intersection with East Agate did meet the peak-hour and four-hour warrant volumes. The study gave Granby one way to get a light at 4th: move traffic away from 6th Street to raise demand at 4th.
Six years later, that is the plan the town built.
How the median moves traffic
In a December 2025 Board of Trustees workshop packet, Town staff described the signal work as "moving the CDOT warrant from 6th Street to 4th Street." The design summary from SGM, the town's engineering firm, explains how the warrant moves:
- A center median on Agate Avenue at 6th Street blocks left turns, so 6th becomes right-in, right-out only.
- A westbound right-turn deceleration lane serves 6th Street, and part of Agate gets restriped to make room for it.
- Westbound right turns toward County Road 60 stay as they are. That was the main concern raised at the board's earlier meeting.
- CDOT's access permits also asked to close the east access to the Sinclair station, subject to a formal process that includes notifying the property owner and getting their acceptance.
With the median in place, drivers who would have turned left at 6th are routed to the signal at 4th, and that added volume is what lets 4th Street justify a light. In the same packet, staff noted that CDOT agreed to drop a raised triangle island at 6th Street but still required the highway median. The design also left the revocable easement for Azteca alone as long as the board kept allowing it and didn't use the Azteca deck for parking.
An April 2026 analysis presented to trustees states the signal's goal plainly: "reduce unacceptably long wait times into highway 40." According to the analysis, the study justified the project based on simulated driver wait times.
The Mesa Street crossing was built for a different reason
The third piece of the Agate Avenue contract sits at the west end of downtown. In May 2025, Sky-Hi News reported that CDOT had agreed to a rectangular rapid flashing beacon at the existing crosswalk where Mesa Street meets West Agate Avenue, near Dollar General and Java Lava Cafe. The paper described it as a flashing crosswalk sign "similar to other ones in town."
The 4th Street signal is about drivers waiting to turn onto the highway. The Mesa project is about people on foot. The April 2026 analysis lists its goal as improving street-crossing safety, "primarily for students from the nearby schools," and says the study justified it based on pedestrian volumes. By December 2025 the design had grown past a flashing sign. It now included bulb-outs and a new gutter pan to shorten the distance across the highway, with flashing lights to warn drivers when someone is crossing. Plans were 90% complete at that point.
How the cost estimates grew
All of these numbers are design-stage estimates from town documents, not final costs. They do show how both projects got bigger as the designs firmed up.
| Date | Element | Estimate |
|---|---|---|
| May 2025 | Mesa flashing crosswalk, construction | $60,000 to $80,000 |
| July 2025 | 4th Street signal and 6th Street diversion | $986,000 |
| December 2025 | 4th Street signal and 6th Street work, with construction management | $1,110,000 |
| December 2025 | Mesa crossing with bulb-outs, with construction management | $398,500 |
The Mesa crossing grew the most. It started as a flashing sign at a crosswalk that already existed. Once the bulb-outs and gutter work were added, the estimate rose to roughly five times the original construction figure. The signal estimate went up about 13% in five months. SGM's July 2025 breakdown put $280,000 of the original estimate toward signal equipment and $142,000 toward curb ramps and sidewalk.
The December 2025 workshop also covered a downtown project that is now on hold. The 2nd and 3rd Street parking areas are the right-of-way parking by the Blue Spruce and the lot between New Mountain Design/Brickhouse and Aesthetque. Staff found that those lots didn't have enough asphalt for a standard mill and overlay, and they estimated a full re-engineering and repaving at $565,500. Trustees deferred that work to 2027. SGM's September 22 update to the board lists it as "Ready for 2027 Bid."
Where construction stood this fall
The contractor is KECI, and SGM is managing construction. SGM's status memo covering work through July 2026 put KECI at 40% complete through June on the combined 4th Street signal, 6th Street median and Mesa crossing. The signal went live in late August. In the September 22 update to trustees, "Agate Avenue Improvements" was still listed under construction, with the Mesa Street flashing beacon and the 4th and 6th Street improvements listed under it. The same update lists "signal timing design" for 4th Street, and the August memo shows SGM used the project number for a CDOT signal-timing request at that intersection.
Thanksgiving week is the signal's first test
The new layout's first winter starts with a crowded week. Granby Ranch's Opening Day for the 2026-27 season is Wednesday, November 25, and the resort is hosting a Thanksgiving buffet the next day.
On Saturday, November 28, at 6 p.m., the Grand County Chamber of Commerce's Parade of Lights comes down Agate Avenue. It leads to the Granby Tree Lighting at the Granby Information Center, which Destination Granby lists with 4-H hot cocoa and treats, s'mores over a fire, and carols by the Granby Minnesingers children's choir. On the same night, decorated wreaths should be up on downtown storefronts. Destination Granby's Deck the Doors program gives a free wreath to the first 25 Granby businesses that sign up by November 15. Wreath pickup is November 23, and displays are due by the tree lighting.
The parade route will pass a working signal at 4th Street this year, and opening-week ski traffic will reach downtown with the light in place for the first time.
The next signal discussion is at Ten Mile Drive
The 4th Street fight took years because the warrant had to be created before the light could be approved. Granby has started the same math earlier at its next likely location. SGM's September 22 update includes a signal assessment for Ten Mile Drive at Sol Vista. It concludes the intersection will meet warrants at 2030 buildout, based on projects now in the planning phase, and includes an updated cost estimate with a proportional share of the future signal cost. The August memo describes that work as an additional Ten Mile traffic study to determine signal warrant thresholds and the proportional share of future signal cost.
That means the town is working out who pays for the Ten Mile signal now, while the developments that will create the traffic are still in planning. At 4th Street, the money and the median came only after the traffic was already there.
Public works projects like Agate Avenue's change how a place gets used every day, and they often affect what a property near them is like to own. If you'd like to talk about how downtown Granby's traffic changes and its 2027 project list bear on a home or lot you're considering in the Fraser Valley, John Sanderson follows these board decisions closely. Receive exclusive listings and lot pricing, along with local knowledge of how these changes affect them.
