Master Street Plan FAQs

The Master Street Plan is a tool for the City of Cortez and Montezuma County that proposes future street alignments.  Please see the Master Street Plan Page for more information.

The Master Street Plan is used to identify locations where there is a need for street connectivity.  When development is proposed, the plan provides guidance to the developer and local governments to ensure that the street connections can be accommodated.  

The Master Street Plan helps local governements and land developers identify where a future street should go.  Otherwise, streets may not connect to each other in a logical way.  

Local governments (i.e. the City of Cortez and Montezuma County), the State Highway Department, land developers, and individual property owners all use the the master street plan for guidance on where streets should go, and on where a street may need to be upgraded.

The street plan can cover an area of up to three miles outside of City limits.  The proposed street plan only covers an area of one mile outside of the City’s limit.  If significant growth begins to happen, the plan can be amended to plan for additional traffic needs appropriate for the demand.  

The Master Street Plan is a subsection of the City of Cortez Comprehensive Plan, which looks at policies to guide growth and land use for the city in general.  The Master Street Plan provides specific guidance regarding street connectivity and policies for ensuring that there is a logical system of streets for the City and certain areas of the unincorporated area.  

The Master Street Plan is advisory, in that it provides general guidance.  The Street Plan is implemented through the land use code, in the form of regulations that require development to consider the proposed streets and accommodate the street connections that are proposed in the Master Street Plan.