With no uniform safety improvements, there’s no end in sight to skyrocketing Colorado pedestrian deaths

Patrick McCarthy, 28, was killed March 11 in Colorado Springs by a speeding hit-and-run driver. Traffic engineers in Colorado Springs point toward speeding as an endemic factor in rising numbers of pedestrian deaths. 

Cyclist Magnus White, 17, was killed on Colorado 119 outside of Boulder when a sleepy driver drifted into the shoulder where he was riding on July 29, 2023. Plans to add a bike-way adjacent to that section of highway had been hung up in bureaucratic negotiations for years. 

Pedestrian Dalton M. McCreary, 22, was killed while walking in a crosswalk in Aurora on Aug. 21, 2016. He pushed his friend out of the way, saving his life. 

Nearly a thousand others died in pedestrian crashes in Colorado in the past decade. Many cyclists died during the same time period, though the Colorado Department of Transportation’s expansive cache of public data sometimes combines bicycle deaths and crashes with motorcycle crashes, making it difficult to quantify the full extent of the deaths and injuries. 

Though many communities want to make their streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists, streets remain dangerous for them. In 2023, pedestrian deaths accounted for 19% of all Colorado traffic fatalities with 135 deaths, compared with 126 passenger vehicle fatalities and 113 motorcycle fatalities, according to Colorado Department of Transportation data. In 2013, there were 54 pedestrian fatalities, accounting for 11% of all traffic deaths.

These increases outpace national trends, and even accounting for Colorado’s growing population does not explain the rising number of fatalities. 

Efforts to improve pedestrian safety are not straightforward. “It’s a difficult and frustrating problem to have, especially when you think about all the efforts that have gone into trying to improve safety,” Todd Frisbie, the Traffic Engineering Division manager for Colorado Springs, said. “And the needle just is going the wrong way. But, maybe, we can start to move the needle the other way now.” 

Ultimately, what traffic engineers like Frisbie want is to make roads safer.

Experts point to various causes including the increasingly large vehicles on Colorado roads, high speed limits and distracted driving. Some state officials, including the Colorado State Patrol, blame pedestrians, citing increased foot traffic, bad crossing patterns, substance use and homelessness. 

Regardless of the cause, pedestrian deaths are on the rise. However, there are innovative strategies that drastically reduce pedestrian deaths being tried in Colorado towns. By focusing on intersection safety, producing an effective funding model and committing to keeping pedestrians and cyclists safe, Boulder has almost eliminated pedestrian fatalities. 

Despite rising pedestrian fatalities, other cities face barriers — both political and financial — to implementing programs like those in Boulder’s Vision Zero plan that could help keep Colorado pedestrians safe, according to analysis of CDOT data over the 2013-2023 time period. 

Not just a Colorado problem, though it’s worse here

The problem of rising pedestrian fatalities is not unique to Colorado. 

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, pedestrian deaths have been climbing nationwide since 2009. In Colorado, even as other traffic-related fatalities have decreased, fatal collisions involving pedestrians have climbed from 3.85% of pedestrian-related collisions in 2013 to 8.37% in 2023, according to CDOT data reviewed for this report. 

In 2023, the state reported 1,611 pedestrian crashes, up 13% from 1,401 in 2013. Pedestrian fatalities increased to 135 in 2023 from 54 in 2013, a 150% increase that suggests the collisions that are occurring are more serious. In most Colorado cities, the increase in pedestrian deaths has been steady. Boulder — among the state’s most populous cities at roughly 105,000 residents — however, has kept deaths flat. 

In seven of the past 11 years, Boulder reported no pedestrian deaths. Over the course of the entire period, Boulder reported seven total deaths. Cities with similar populations, including Pueblo and Lakewood, record up to 13 pedestrian deaths per year and average 4 to 8 times more pedestrian deaths per capita than Boulder, according to analysis of CDOT data. 

Colorado’s three largest cities — Denver, Aurora and Colorado Springs — also outpace Boulder in per capita pedestrian deaths. Valerie Watson, the interim director of Boulder’s Transportation and Mobility Department, said the city’s success is a result of better management of intersections, including prohibitions on right turns on red, left-turn interventions, and traffic signals that give pedestrians a head start crossing. 

This emphasis on intersection safety is what sets Boulder apart. 

Over the past decade, 62% of all Colorado pedestrian crashes and 35% of fatalities occurred at intersections or were intersection-related, according to analysis of CDOT data. 

According to Boulder’s Vision Zero plan, which details the city’s approach to ending serious car crashes and vehicular fatalities, it will be illegal for drivers to turn right on red anywhere in the city by 2026. Officials have already implemented the ban at many of the city’s busiest intersections. Additionally, Boulder has pedestrian-first traffic signals at all high-risk intersections and should have them at all traffic-light intersections in the city by the end of the year. 

Watson said Boulder has funded the projects through a dedicated sales tax and federal grants. 

However, there may be problems on the horizon. Since 2020 a small tax intended for parks and open space has been directed to transportation projects, but starting in 2030, that money will be sent into the general fund.

Funding shortfalls are among the reasons many cities cite for not deploying effective safety measures. In 1991, CDOT spent about $126 for each Colorado resident for all transportation services, but by 2015, that allocation had fallen to $69, according to the Colorado Department of Local Affairs.

This has forced the state transportation department to divide its priorities. Many necessary safety upgrades, including those designated by CDOT’s High Demand Bicycles Corridor Upgrade Plan, have been delayed or will not be implemented. Cities face the same problem. 

“We do not have endless buckets of money to do things,” Watson said.

Raising taxes for safety improvements can be a hard sell

Other cities struggle to make the same costly improvements as Boulder. Many federal grants require cities to match funds with local money — funds that cities themselves have to raise with taxes. When cities lack the resources to apply for grants with matching requirements, they are excluded from these funds.

Lee Ann Aden is the CEO of Beyond Balance Sheets, an Aurora-based human resources and accounting consulting firm that regularly works on federal grant compliance. She said requiring state and local officials to put forward taxpayer money to match federal dollars can be difficult.

“There might be federal programs that let you put in bike lanes and pedestrian crossovers, but then you have to come up with the money,” Aden said. “Convincing people to do a bond issue or pay extra taxes to do this is a tough sell.” 

However, even when cities receive the money they need, they have to get authorization from CDOT to make changes to state-owned roads.

Vision Zero identifies 7% of all Boulder roads as a high-risk network, or HRN, where 57% of all pedestrian crashes occurred between 2016 and 2020. Several of these roads — including Arapahoe Avenue (Colorado 7), Diagonal Highway (Colorado 119), Canyon Boulevard (Colorado 119) and Broadway (Colorado 93) — are state highways and fall under the purview of CDOT.

To add safety measures along those roadways, Boulder would have to get the state’s approval. While CDOT and local departments work together closely, sometimes CDOT and local agencies have different priorities. 

State highways in city centers in metropolitan areas experience high pedestrian traffic, but are not well designed for dual use. These roads include South Parker Road in Aurora and Arapahoe Road in Boulder that have lots of both vehicle and foot traffic. Traffic that is passing through town or hauling freight is often prioritized over local traffic. About 25% of Colorado roads are state highways, and since 2013, are where 52% of all pedestrian fatalities occurred. 

CDOT, increasingly, is focused on improving options for different traffic users, including pedestrians. Since its inception in 2020, CDOT’s Revitalizing Main Streets program, formerly Safer Main Streets, program has gained traction across the state, helping local governments develop safety and accessibility initiatives. 

In 2021, a new set of transportation fees in Senate Bill 260 delegated $85 million for the program so it could continue its work to 2030.

Funding shortfalls have human consequences

But when funds fall short, and plans are postponed or forgotten, the consequences can be severe. Furloughed pedestrian safety projects can carry enormous human impacts, ending lives and causing suffering to communities. 

In July 2023, Magnus White, a USA national team cyclist, was struck by a car outside Boulder on the Diagonal Highway, just south of 63rd Street. For years, officials at CDOT and in Boulder County had been planning to build a bikeway parallel to the highway. But the work was delayed by funding constraints, coordination problems and a slow-moving bureaucracy, Watson said.

Immediately after Magnus’ death, CDOT added low-cost pedestrian safety measures to the road, including rumble strips, and in September, began the $165 million Safety, Mobility and Bikeway Project that includes a protected bikeway as well as bus rapid transit stations.

Watson said Magnus’ death strengthened the resolve of different organizations to move forward with the work. “There is no stronger voice or no more effective voice for street safety than survivors and victims of traffic violence,” she said, adding that crash survivors say, “we can’t wait this long for these projects.”

Of course, not everything in Boulder can be solely attributed to its pedestrian infrastructure. Boulder, with its large population of college students and relatively high pedestrian density, has a political and social climate more ready to accept changes to existing infrastructure that benefit pedestrians. The highest priority transport type in Boulder’s Transportation Master Plan is pedestrian traffic. 

Other cities that have more car traffic face political, cultural and financial barriers. Some infrastructure projects, like road diets — where the number of lanes and the size of lanes are decreased — are simply unpopular with many constituents. In cities like Colorado Springs and Aurora, where most road users are in vehicles, projects that prioritize foot and bicycle traffic simply do not have wide public support. 

Tom Worker-Braddock, a senior transportation planner for Aurora, said even benign projects such as building or widening sidewalks can be perceived as having negative impacts for vehicle traffic because they sometimes reduce parking.

But some of those cities have begun to overcome these barriers as pedestrian crashes have been becoming more common. Sometimes changes that favor pedestrian safety are ignited by tragic events that bring the community together to fight for a safer future on their roads.

After two students were hit by cars on Baseline Road in Lafayette in September, city residents called for changes to the city’s transportation infrastructure, the Daily Camera reported. 

Whose priorities are higher? The city’s or CDOT’s?

Aurora, which has among the highest number of population-adjusted pedestrian fatalities in the state — at 0.22 deaths per 10,000 residents — struggles to implement effective safety measures. 

Over the past decade, pedestrian fatalities in Aurora have increased 275%, from 4 in 2013 to 15 in 2023, peaking in 2022 at 19 deaths. The largest concentration of pedestrian deaths in the city is along East Colfax Avenue, also known as U.S. 40, Worker-Braddock said. 

He said working with CDOT to make improvements to the street “is challenging simply because there’s various agreements on what’s the city’s responsibility, what’s CDOT responsibility.”

“Historically, CDOT has been very geared towards facilitating movement of vehicular and freight traffic along state highways — even through cities like Aurora,” Worker-Braddock said. 

Aurora also struggles to make infrastructure improvements to its local streets. The city typically does not seek federally funded projects if they cost less than $1 million because the administrative burden, including required paperwork and approvals, is too high, Worker-Braddock said. 

Most federal grants require the city to oversee contracting companies, source materials through the Made in America policy, and find matching funds from local taxpayer dollars. As many pedestrian safety upgrades are relatively small and inexpensive, leveraging federal funding for these programs is challenging.

On top of that, Aurora does not focus on intersection upgrades like Boulder’s protected left turns, pedestrian-first traffic signals or banning right turns at red lights. Instead, the biggest pedestrian infrastructure initiative in Aurora is fixing sidewalk gaps near schools and in areas with vulnerable populations, according to Worker-Braddock. This is partially because Aurora’s existing infrastructure requires baseline improvements before it can begin to think about bigger projects like those undertaken in more pedestrian-friendly cities like Boulder.

Aurora’s infrastructure has a long way to go toward becoming pedestrian-friendly, but things may be looking up. 

Until last year, Aurora never had a citywide transportation plan. Instead, different departments addressed transportation issues separately. But in 2023, the city received a federal grant to create a citywide transportation plan, dubbed Connect Aurora.

In Colorado Springs, Colorado’s second largest city, pedestrian deaths have risen over the past decade despite efforts from transportation safety experts. 

Pedestrian deaths continue to rise in Colorado Springs, even though the city has implemented limited intersection safety measures like pedestrian-first signals that give pedestrians three seconds to begin crossing before cars get a green light, has a coordination agreement with CDOT that allows the city to make changes to Powers Boulevard (Colorado 21), and has a dedicated funding scheme from the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority tax. 

The tax supports transportation maintenance and transit services in Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs, unincorporated El Paso County, and three towns along U.S. 24, Green Mountain Falls west of Colorado Springs and Ramah and Calhan to the east. But it also funds safety projects like flashing lights for school pedestrian zones, where students have previously faced dangerous crossings, according to Frisbie.

The per capita death rate in Colorado Springs is below that in Denver and Aurora, but is still higher than the statewide figure. Colorado Springs, over the last decade, averaged 0.16 pedestrian deaths per 10,000 residents, compared with the state average of 0.15.

Despite all the hard work done by Frisbie’s department for road safety near schools, for intersection safety, and for curb protections, there are simply factors that a transportation department cannot overcome.

“Often times, the transportation systems that were built decades ago, were done with the sole purpose of moving traffic,” he said. “Changing that now to include more pedestrians and nonmotorized users can take millions of dollars.” 

He also noted the significance of driver behavior in keeping pedestrians safe. “Just lowering the speed limit does not change human behavior.”