Turn off Highway 160 onto Three Springs Boulevard on a September morning and the wetlands catch you first, that flash of cattails and standing water off to the side before the road settles into tree-lined blocks. If you're lucky, a great blue heron lifts off ahead of you. Keep going toward Wilson Gulch Drive, though, and the quiet gives way to something else: excavators, staked lot lines, the low grind of heavy equipment that wasn't there a year ago.
Both of those things are true about Three Springs right now. The neighborhood is exactly as calm as it's always been, and a piece of it just started changing for the first time in twenty years. This is the story of what's actually moving this fall, and what isn't going anywhere at all.
The Site That Was Always "Someday"
When Three Springs got its original development plan approved by the Durango City Council back in 2006, the master plan set aside a parcel for a future school campus. For most of the two decades since, that's all it was: a line on a map and a line in the neighborhood's own FAQ, which for years told residents that a school would come "when enrollment numbers warrant" one, with school-age kids in the meantime routed to nearby campuses.
That waiting period ended this year. According to the Durango School District's own June 2026 bond update, the district has broken ground on the new Three Springs Elementary School campus, funded by the 2024 Investing in Our Schools bond that voters approved. It's a small note buried in a district newsletter next to updates about workforce housing occupancy rates, but for anyone who has lived here through a decade of "someday," it's the biggest thing happening in the neighborhood.
There's no opening date attached yet, and construction timelines for school buildings tend to run long. But the shift from designated parcel to active groundbreaking is the kind of milestone that changes how a place feels to the people already in it. Three Springs has spent two decades being described as a neighborhood built for families with an asterisk: come here, and eventually there will be a school. That asterisk is finally getting resolved.
The Corner That's Filling In
The school site isn't the only place where dirt is moving. A few minutes away, near the Maverik gas station off Zyme Rock Road, a McDonald's has been under construction since excavation work began there earlier this year. The location sits along Wilson Gulch Drive, a corridor that's picked up development interest largely because of the nearby Highway 550 realignment connecting to the Grandview interchange, a project that's still finishing up. It was supposed to open to traffic by early summer, then got pushed back again when the roundabout's required lighting stalled: the electrical subcontractor handling that work got pulled away to help with storm recovery in Houston, and Colorado's transportation department put the whole traffic switch on hold until further notice.
Once that connection does open, it's expected to funnel more highway traffic straight toward Wilson Gulch, which is part of why commercial developers are already staking claims along it. The McDonald's is the most visible sign of that interest right now: a roughly 4,500-square-foot building going up on a lot that sat vacant next to the Maverik for years.
None of this touches the residential core of Three Springs directly. The Mercado Street business district, where most residents actually walk to grab dinner, isn't affected by what's happening off Wilson Gulch. But if you've noticed more construction traffic near the Maverik lately, that's why.
What Hasn't Moved an Inch
Set against all that groundbreaking, the neighborhood's actual daily rhythm hasn't shifted at all, and that's worth sitting with for a minute.
Taco Boy is still on the corner of Mercado Street and Heritage Lane, still run by the family that opened it, Silvia and Juan Aguayo, with their son Miguel now managing the store. The hours haven't changed: open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, until 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, with the bar kicking in around 4:30 p.m. The weekly rotation of specials is the same one longtime residents already know by heart:
- Monday Margaritas
- Sopes on rotation through the week
- Whiskey Wednesdays
A short walk away, Homeslice Pizza is still serving out of the space that used to be Digs, dishing out pizza, sandwiches, and salads from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily with the bar staying open until midnight, which makes it the later option on a night when Taco Boy has already closed its kitchen. Bear's General Store is still the fastest stop for a six-pack or a bottle of wine on the way home, and Alpine Bank still anchors the financial end of the Mercado Street strip.
The Fall Festival is still coming too. Three Springs has run this event every year for nearly two decades, a free, family-focused day built around neighborhood trick-or-treating, live music, pumpkin decorating, and a coloring contest sponsored by Alpine Bank, with the whole thing benefiting Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Colorado. Based on the event's own numbering, this year's festival should land somewhere close to its 20th edition, the same twenty years that have passed since the neighborhood's original plan penciled in a school site that's only now breaking ground. Parking has traditionally overflowed into the Mercy Hospital lot, with the Knights of Columbus helping direct traffic. If you've been to one of these before, you know roughly what to expect. If you haven't, it's worth carving out the Saturday whenever the date lands.
Concerts in the Plaza, the neighborhood's summer outdoor music series at Three Springs Plaza, is winding down for the season as it always does this time of year, one more sign that the calendar here runs on its own dependable loop regardless of what's happening a mile away on Wilson Gulch.
Where to Walk While the Aspens Turn
Fall is also the best window for using the trail network that makes Three Springs different from most other Durango subdivisions. The Spurline Trail runs six miles through the neighborhood, built for biking, running, and hiking, and it connects into the wider Telegraph Trail System for anyone who wants to keep going. Confluence Park, a 15-acre neighborhood park with a playground, a picnic shelter, and full ADA accessibility, is an easy option if you're walking with kids or just want a shorter loop. For dog walkers specifically, the Southern Open Space offers a soft-surface loop that's easier on paws than pavement, and it's become the default answer to the neighborhood's most-asked FAQ about where to exercise a dog off the sidewalk grid.
The one piece of trail infrastructure still incomplete is the SMART 160 Trail, an ongoing project that will eventually link Three Springs to the Animas River Trail and on to Bayfield. It's been described as a work in progress for years now, much like the school site was, and it's a reminder that not everything here is finished yet. Some of what makes Three Springs distinct is already built. Some of it is still being poured, planted, or paved, one section at a time.
That's really the shape of this neighborhood right now. The rituals residents count on, the taco specials, the Saturday festival, the dog loop through the open space, aren't going anywhere. But if you've been waiting to see this place grow into what its original plan promised, this is the fall where you can actually watch it happen, one excavator at a time.
If you're curious what any of this means for property values or timing down the road, or if you just want a straight answer from someone who pays attention to this neighborhood block by block, SWCO Home Sales is happy to talk it through, no pressure, including a free home valuation whenever you're ready for one.
