Boulder County Vision Zero Action Plan
Traffic deaths have a permanent impact on those affected by the loss.
We need your help to shape a safer community.
We need your help to shape a safer community.
Project Overview
Everyone deserves to arrive alive. Vision Zero is a strategy to eliminate all serious injury and fatal traffic crashes, while increasing safe, healthy, equitable mobility for all.
Recognizing the importance of implementing a regional approach to roadway safety, Boulder County, Lafayette, and Superior (the Partners) joined forces to apply for 2023 Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant funding.
The grant will enable each Partner to develop a Vision Zero Action Plan (VZAP), which will be a detailed analysis of traffic crashes and risk factors in the county and specific recommendations to comprehensively improve transportation safety in the coming years.
The plans will build on the Safe System Approach which designs and manages transportation systems – road infrastructure, vehicles, and related policies – to minimize risk, understanding that humans sometimes make mistakes. And when a mistake does lead to a crash, a safe system is one that lessens severe impacts on the human body, regardless of which mode one chooses for travel.
Key stages of the project include:
- Data Analysis: Documenting major crash trends, developing the high-injury network (corridors where the most crashes are occurring), and identifying risk factors
- Project Prioritization: Identifying and prioritizing specific projects to address existing issues and proactive measures to address risk
- Fact Sheets & Performance Measures: Developing concepts for priority projects and determining how we will monitor progress/success
- Action Plans: Creating to-do lists of specific actions (both infrastructure, such a roadway improvements, and non-infrastructure, such as educational campaigns), noting responsibility and potential funding sources for implementation
Connect with the Project Team During the Next Phase of Community Engagement
Meet the Project Team at an Event
Join the project team at upcoming events to review recommendations for each Vision Zero Action Plan area. They will be tabling at the Superior Winter Festival on December 14, 1-5 pm.
Check back for opportunities to meet the project team at events in Lafayette and Boulder County.
Participate in the Draft Recommendations Survey
The Vision Zero team is seeking community input on the proposed recommendations for each Vision Zero Action Plan area. Your participation in one or more of the surveys is encouraged:
- Superior Survey – open until January 31, 2025
- Boulder County Survey – coming soon
- Lafayette Survey – coming soon
Learn More About the Proposed Recommendations
Coming soon: Please check back for additional resources on the proposed Vision Zero Action Plan recommendations for each study area. Information will include detailed descriptions of safety analysis findings, an overview of top safety countermeasures being proposed, and an overview of how recommendations will be prioritized.
Past Community Engagement: Phase 1 Events
July 4 – Superior 4th of July Celebration
July 21 – Nederland Farmers Market & Party in the Peaks
August 9 – Lafayette Art Night Out
August 11 – Ride for Magnus
Superior Vision Zero Action Plan Public Meeting, August 1, 2024
Boulder County Vision Zero Action Plan Public Meeting, August 8, 2024
Lafayette Vision Zero Action Plan Public Meeting, August 20, 2024
- Presentation, August 20, 2024
- English language video recording, August 20, 2024
- Spanish language video recording, August 20, 2024
Get help in your language at 720-564-2292 or visionzero@bouldercounty.gov.
Project Schedule
Safety Progress to Date
Boulder County
As part of the 2020 Transportation Master Plan (TMP), Boulder County established its Vision Zero goal of eliminating serious injuries and fatal traffic crashes in unincorporated Boulder County by 2035. The most recent safety analysis showed that between 2009 and 2018 about 35 individuals were seriously injured and 10 were killed in traffic crashes each year within unincorporated Boulder County and the mountain towns. Since 2001 the county Transportation Sales Tax program has supported several safety-related projects.
Examples of ongoing safety-related projects include the CO 119 Safety, Mobility, & Bikeway Project and US 287 Vision Zero Safety & Mobility Study.
Dedicated to meeting its Vision Zero target, Boulder County is embarking on its Vision Zero Action Plan effort to gain an in-depth understanding of current crash trends and risk factors and chart an effective course of action. For more information, see Boulder County’s Vision Zero webpage.
Lafayette
In November 2023, the City of Lafayette published its first-ever Multimodal Transportation Plan (MMTP). The safety section of the MMTP documented 653 crashes resulting in either fatalities or injuries occurring between 2015 to 2019 in Lafayette. Six crashes resulted in a fatality and 29 crashes resulted in severe injury.
Lafayette’s VZAP will create a prioritized list of safety projects, neighborhood speed mitigation guidelines, and a bicycle facility design community practice and plan. The project will also review traffic signal timing for best safety practices and develop a crash prevention and evaluation protocol, including a crash investigation taskforce and stakeholder list for education and outreach.
Superior
The Town of Superior is responsible for maintaining its 50 miles of streets, which includes pavement resurfacing, snow removal, traffic signals, street sweeping, school zone flashers, signage and striping. The Town’s Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program (NTCP) implements engineering, education, and enforcement to slow speeding traffic on residential streets. The NTCP is administered by the Public Works & Utilities Department in conjunction with the Transportation & Safety Committee (TSC).
Superior’s VZAP will include a video safety analysis to identify targeted locations where problematic behaviors and conditions exist (such as red-light running, speeding, pedestrian and bicyclist compliance, and intersection blocking, with a particular focus on vehicle-vehicle and vehicle-pedestrian/bicycle near misses).
FAQ's
Vision Zero is a transportation strategy to eliminate all traffic fatalities and serious injuries for people using all modes of transportation while increasing safe, healthy, equitable mobility for all. Vision Zero recognizes that humans make mistakes and therefore the transportation system should be designed to minimize the consequences of human error. The concept was first implemented in Sweden in the 1990s and has since then gained momentum worldwide. Learn more about Vision Zero.
Community engagement is a critical component of the project process. The project team conducted the first phase of community outreach in summer 2024 to learn about the Boulder County community’s transportation safety concerns. The second round of community outreach is launching in December 2024. The community for the planning areas (unincorporated Boulder County, Lafayette, and Superior) will be invited to provide feedback on the draft Vision Zero Action Plan recommendations for each jurisdiction. You can meet with the project team at the events listed above and by taking the recommendations survey. You can also submit a comment to the project team at any time.
This effort is led by Boulder County, Superior, and Lafayette (the Partners) who joined forces to apply for Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant funding to address regional traffic-related deaths and serious injuries. Each Partner will develop a Vision Zero Action Plan (VZAP) which will be a detailed analysis of traffic crashes and risk factors in the county and specific recommendations to comprehensively improve transportation safety in the coming years.
The project team will also solicit feedback from elected officials during study sessions and host Steering Committee Meetings (including representatives from Boulder County, Superior, Lafayette, Jamestown, Nederland, Ward, emergency/first responders, safety/active transportation advocacy groups, Center for People with Disabilities, CDOT, and more) to gather additional input.
Other jurisdictions in Boulder County are committed to Vision Zero and either have already completed a Vision Zero Action Plan or are working on one.
Additional resources are provided below:
- City of Boulder, Transportation and Mobility:
303-441-3200
City of Boulder Vision Zero webpage - Town of Erie, Public Works, Engineering Division:
303-926-2870
Erie Public Works, Engineering Division webpage - Town of Louisville: Public Works and Engineering Divisions:
303-335-4608
Email: PWorks@LouisvilleCO.gov - City of Longmont Transportation department:
303-651-8416
Longmont Vision Zero webpage - Town of Lyons, Public Works:
303-823-6622
Program Contact
Liv Lewin, PE
Email: visionzero@bouldercounty.gov
Phone: 720-564-2292