DOTI Reports Expansion of SPEED Pilot Program to Reduce Crashes
DOTI Communications
|
|
Nancy Kuhn
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 23, 2025 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
DOTI Reports Expansion of SPEED Pilot Program to Reduce Crashes
Denver – Denver’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) is reporting an overall reduction in crashes, including a 20% reduction in total crashes on Alameda Avenue, and a 10% reduction in total crashes and a 28% reduction in late night crashes on Federal Boulevard, following implementation of its multi-layer SPEED program. Additional safety measures will made on both corridors and DOTI will expand its SPEED program to Colorado Boulevard in 2026.
“While we are seeing some progress with the reduction of overall crashes and serious bodily injury crashes, we know we need continued attention to how we reduce fatalities on these corridors,” notes Amy Ford, Executive Director of DOTI. “After this weekend, there have now been seven fatalities this year on Federal Boulevard. As we track toward our 50% reduction goal by the end of 2026, we are continuing to add new measures including automated speed cameras to help eliminate the primary cause of these tragic occurrences.”
Background The SPEED program is a targeted pilot safety initiative announced by Mayor Mike Johnston and DOTI Executive Director Amy Ford in June 2024 that deploys proven safety countermeasures to address speeding in an effort to reduce traffic crashes. Measures implemented on Federal Blvd. and Alameda Ave. so far include:
· Saturating the corridors with speed limit signage to raise driver awareness of the speed limit. · Installing more electronic feedback signs along the corridors to tell drivers how fast they’re going. · Programming traffic signals to slow vehicles down to the posted speed limits. · Shortening signal cycle lengths in the overnight hours, reducing the amount of time that signals rest in green, discouraging speeding when there are fewer cars on the road. · Increasing the number of intersections on Federal and Alameda with leading pedestrian intervals. These give pedestrians a head start crossing the street before cars get the green. · Working with Xcel to get damaged and dark street lights shining brightly again.
In 2026, the city will add automated speed enforcement cameras to help DOTI meet its goal of reducing fatal crashes on both corridors by 50% as compared to 2023.
Results DOTI has seen a reduction in crashes overall on both corridors in 2025 as compared to 2023.
Currently, Denver has experienced a reduction in serious bodily injuries citywide with 345 year to date compared to total 410 in 2024. Fatal crashes have increased with 90 lives lost year to date. Areas of increase have been in scooter fatalities and in pedestrians on the interstate.
“Interventions where we work to decrease speeding, which can be a factor in over 83% of fatal crashes are important,” said Ford. “Speeding vehicles have less time to react to potentially dangerous interactions and the results can be fatal. While we are proud of the progress we have made, there is still more work to be done, and I look forward to taking additional action in 2026 to better protect pedestrians and drivers.”
Program Expansion DOTI is now moving to implement similar measures to address speeding to reduce fatal crashes on Colorado Boulevard. The 9-mile-long corridor saw 18 serious bodily injury events and five (5) individual fatalities during 2023 and, in alignment with the SPEED Program goal, the plan to reduce these numbers by 50% following the installation of all treatments. So far, signal timing changes have been implemented on North Colorado Blvd; the southern half is planned to be retimed during spring of 2026. Additional speed limit signs have been installed along the corridor. Additional SPEED Program safety interventions such as driver feedback signs and pedestrian safety improvements will be deployed as resources become available.
###
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
