Denver Plans to Eliminate Traffic Fatalities with Vision Zero Initiative 

Wednesday Denver Mayor Michael Hancock announced the city’s commitment to end all traffic-related deaths and serious injuries on Denver’s roadways. Over the next few months Denver will put together a comprehensive Vision Zero action plan including numerous new projects, policies and strategies as well as a set date to achieve the goal of dropping the number of fatal crashes to zero. KGNU attended the Vision Zero announcement and spoke with some of the officials behind the project for the details.

“We look forward to working closely with the city across all departments and agencies to make this ambitious and ultimately moral goal a reality.”  – Joel Noble, Representative for the Denver Vision Zero Coalition.

Specific actions planned for the Vision Zero initiative in 2016 will focus on street design, enforcement, education and community partnerships, including:

Denver Police Department

• Provide distracted driving education, as well as enforcement programs
• Provide pedestrian safety education efforts including proper use of crosswalks
• Conduct focused DUI enforcement with saturation patrols and check points
• Provide committed speed enforcement in school zones
• Use social media for targeted motorist and pedestrian safety messages
• Use traffic grants to enhance policing efforts

Denver Public Works

• Lead the development of the City’s VisionZero Action Plan
• Continue to expand the city’s bicycle network, adding 15 miles of new bike lanes and 2-3 protected bike facilities downtown, providing safer, more comfortable places for people to ride
• Launch the Denver Moves: Pedestrian and Trailsplanning effort to prioritize implementation of short- and long-term improvements, develop funding strategies, and deliver a safe, cohesive, and connected system for people on foot
• Study crashes involving pedestrians and bicycles to guide future transportation system improvements
• Install enhanced crosswalks at eight more Denver intersections, for a total of 11 intersections citywide
• Launch theDenver Moves: Transit planning effort to identify priority transit corridors and near- and long-term strategies for improving transit in Denver
• Complete the 35th/36^thStreet pedestrian bridge and new sidewalks to improve connectivity and provide people safer access to new RTD transit stations
• Reduce the percentage of traffic signals that are beyond their useful life
• Reconstruct Brighton Boulevard from 29^thto 44^th to make it safer for all users, adding new concrete pavement, sidewalks, a bike facility, street lighting and upgraded traffic signals
• Continue studying the Broadway/Lincoln Corridor to make it a safer place for all travelers
• Study a 9-mile stretch of Federal Boulevard, looking at safety, aesthetics, and how the roadway operates from the perspectives of people who take transit, walk, bike and drive
• Continue producing a mobility newsletter to inform the public about transportation and mobility improvements

Denver Environmental Health

• Provide bicycle and pedestrian education to children, parents and school staff through Denver Safe Routes to School
• Grow the Community Active Living Coalition to perform community assessments of bicycle, pedestrian and transit safety around schools and recreation centers
• Assess neighborhood-level multimodal conditions in Health Impact Assessmentsto inform neighborhood plans
• Create data-driven assessments of high-need areas for public infrastructure improvements to improve health
• Continue to support residents conducting walking audits to gather data about sidewalk and intersection conditions using the WALKscope application
• Continue to support residents organizing community walking trips to share positive pedestrian experiences and foster conversations around areas for improvement

Denver Health Medical Center

• Raise awareness of the effects of impaired driving through the Lead and Seed program in Montbello
• Provide detoxification services and transitional treatment for substance-dependent men and women
• Offer car seat checks at community clinic locations
• Provide bicycle helmets to children who otherwise do not have access to them

For additional information and how to get involved, go to Denver’s Vision Zero web page.

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