BoCo’s Vision Zero Action Plan Targets Dangerous Roads

Boulder County has officially adopted its first Vision Zero Action Plan, a sweeping strategy to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2035. The Board of County Commissioners approved the plan on Aug. 28, committing the county to bold safety measures across unincorporated roads and the mountain towns of Jamestown, Nederland and Ward.

“For too long, we’ve just accepted that people get seriously hurt or killed on our roadways in accidents,” said Liviana Lewin, Boulder County’s Vision Zero Program Manager. “Vision Zero says, ‘No, that’s not acceptable, and these are preventable crashes.’” 

The plan’s adoption follows a series of tragedies on county roads, including the 2023 death of 17-year-old cyclist Magnus White, who was struck by a driver on Colorado 119, and several fatal crashes on Highway 66 near Longmont linked to speeding and head-on collisions. County leaders say the new strategy is both a technical blueprint and a moral commitment to saving lives.

“This plan gives us a clear roadmap for making our streets safer for everyone,” Lewin said. “Whether you’re driving, biking or walking.”

What’s in the plan?

The newly adopted Vision Zero Action Plan identifies the county’s High-Injury Network (HIN)—the small fraction of roads where a majority of severe crashes occur—and seeks to curtail crashes. Key strategies include:

• Targeting the top five crash types: single-vehicle, bicycle, head-on, broadside and left-turn collisions, which together account for more than 75% of serious accidents.
• Speed management tools: installing speed safety cameras on county roads and CDOT highways, re-evaluating speed limits and redesigning roads to naturally slow drivers.
• Safer intersections and corridors: adding raised crosswalks, widening bike shoulders and redesigning turn lanes.
• Education and enforcement campaigns: conducting outreach in Spanish and partnering with Mobility for All Ambassadors to reach vulnerable communities.

Boulder County joins a patchwork of municipalities—including Boulder, Lafayette, Longmont and Superior—that have already adopted local Vision Zero or multimodal transportation safety plans. Together, these efforts aim to reverse Colorado’s rising pedestrian and cyclist fatalities.

 “Vision Zero is about taking action before tragedy,” Lewin said. “By focusing on the roads where crashes happen most, we can prevent injuries and make our communities safer for everyone.”

Vision Zero was created after years of research, public engagement and interdepartmental coordination, and it is aligned with the city’s strategic priorities of economic stability, climate action and community health. County staff analyzed crash data, gathered community input and collaborated with traffic engineers and safety experts before presenting the plan to the Board of County Commissioners for adoption.

Implementation now entails turning these strategies into real-world improvements. Some projects, such as new multi-use paths along Jay Road, intersection upgrades at 95th Street and Lookout Road and safety-focused resurfacing on Flagstaff Road, were already planned or underway prior to the plan’s formal adoption, ensuring that momentum toward safer streets continues unabated.

Building from loss in BoCo

White’s death, which drew national attention, accelerated the need for the Vision Zero Action Plan and long-delayed safety upgrades along CO 119. That $165 million project, aimed at transforming one of Boulder County’s busiest and most dangerous corridors, includes the construction of a new off-street protected bikeway, dedicated bus rapid transit lanes and stations and major intersection redesigns by 2027. 

For residents, the urgency is deeply personal. Edward Clark, a Boulder resident, professional photographer and lifelong cyclist, shares that the issue of road safety is personal.

“Far too many of my friends have been hit and killed by cars, so this is important to me,” Clark said. “The number one thing is speeding.”

Longtime Boulder resident and former police officer Jannine Powell feels the frustration daily. “The lack of people driving the speed limit is just appalling,” Powell said. “Especially in the areas where I walk my dog every day.”

Both Clark and Powell point to speeding as the most pressing issue—and statistics back them up. According to Boulder County crash data, higher speeds are a key factor in the severity and frequency of collisions. When drivers speed, reaction time is reduced, stopping distance increases and the likelihood of a crash being fatal rises dramatically.

This is why many residents want speed mitigation to be prioritized above all else. Clark believes that without addressing this core problem, other improvements will have limited impact. “Until we slow people down, we’re just going to keep seeing these tragedies,” he said.

Dwight Hill, a Longmont resident, has watched traffic patterns change over the years. What used to be occasional issues, he explained, have now become constant concerns as the population grows and roadways become more congested.

“The issues we’ve had over the decades are just going to continue to increase,” Hill said. “Speed mitigation is probably the biggest issue we have.”

What comes next

Despite adoption, officials acknowledge the plan faces a daunting challenge: money. Current funding from Boulder County’s transportation sales tax provides about $50,000 per year for Vision Zero projects—enough for signage and striping, but not the major infrastructure changes needed. Full implementation could cost tens of millions of dollars, requiring federal Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grants, CDOT partnerships, and other outside funding.

“This is not a fiscally constrained plan,” the staff memo to commissioners noted. “Our next steps include aggressively pursuing funding and refining project priorities.” 

Over the next year, county staff will focus on prioritizing projects, phasing in improvements, and continuing construction already underway. Officials will also begin reporting progress on crash reduction goals. One highly anticipated change: speed safety cameras on US 36 and US 287, which are expected to go live by late 2025.

For families like the Whites, as well as the many Boulder County residents who have lost loved ones on dangerous stretches like Highway 66, the stakes are high.

“We don’t want to keep reading about another fatal crash,” said Karl Hanzel, a Boulder cyclist. “The goal has to be zero deaths.”