traffic calming

Today Denver reduced the speed limit from 35 to 30 mph on a stretch of East Evans Avenue from Federal Boulevard to Huron Street. The safety measure is one of Denver's efforts to cut serious injuries and fatalities on the city's streets, but most drivers disregarded the new speed limit. 

The Department of Public Works installed in-street pedestrian signs in the crosswalks at two intersections in the Washington Park neighborhood this morning. The signs come three weeks after Mayor Michael Hancock promised to boost street safety at 24 locations around the city after drivers killed two bicyclists last month, adding to a fast-rising death rate that is on track to reach highest level in over a decade.

As traffic fatalities skyrocket, a new region-wide Vision Zero program aims to help cities and counties within the Denver Metro improve street safety. 

A 49% increase in traffic fatalities highlights how little Mayor Hancock’s administration has achieved in the three years since it adopted a Vision Zero Action Plan, which aims to end all traffic fatalities by 2030.

A 58-year-old pedestrian was killed by a teen drag racer going around 60 miles per hour on W. Alameda Avenue — one of many known high-speed killing zones in the Mile High City that officials can’t get under control.

As the number of traffic fatalities continues to increase in Denver, the two candidates for mayor stopped short of committing to spending a small amount for fast, cheap street safety improvements.

Advocates for street safety placed flowers, beach balls, pastel-painted tires and bales of hay on a stretch of Federal Boulevard on Saturday afternoon to show how easily Denver’s deadliest street could be transformed into something safer.

Drivers killed 35 percent more pedestrians in the U.S. than they did a decade ago — and in Colorado the number of fatalities grew by an astonishing 75 percent over a similar period. Population growth, people driving more miles per year, driving at night and the growing popularity of SUVs and smartphones are among the reasons why. To solve the problem, the design Denver's streets needs to change.

People walking have the right of way to cross 13th Avenue in Capitol Hill, but few dare take it. Motorists, not the many people on foot who frequent the dense neighborhood, rule the commercial and residential strip. That changed for one day.