courtesy David Mintzer
Audio By Carbonatix
Anyone who has played frogger trying to cross East 13th, 14th or 17th avenues in Denver knows how dangerous these streets can be. The impact on our neighborhoods is staggering. Residents endure cars crashing into their homes. Over 100 crashes per year on these three streets alone result in injury or death. Responding to neighborhood anger over the state of these streets, the Denver Department of Transportation & Infrastructure commissioned the East Avenues Safety Study with a mandate to reduce speeding, crashes and deaths.
The study found that DOTI’s usual tools, such as the white plastic posts we see popping up everywhere, would not be enough to reduce speeding and crashes. To make these streets truly safe, the study recommended speed tables every four blocks. These gentle, broad bumps are designed to prevent excessive speeding over the 30 mph limit. They do not cause undercarriage trauma, nor do they require drivers to slow to a crawl. According to the study, this intervention would prevent on average 2.6 deaths, 117 injury crashes and 335 property damage crashes every five years. In other words, not doing this will cost lives and money.
What was DOTI’s response to this study? “We don’t install speed cushions on high speed streets.” This policy isn’t some traffic engineering law of nature. It is a dogma that prioritizes speeding traffic over safety and people’s lives. As pointed out in this study, other cities have installed speed tables on high volume, high speed arterials and successfully reduced speeding. Another concern is that speed tables would slow down emergency response vehicles. Fortunately, when it comes to 13th, 14th and 17th avenues, fire trucks and ambulances will soon be able to bypass traffic by using the new BRT lanes on Colfax.
According to the safety study, installing speed tables every four blocks on these streets would cost $800,000. As a comparison, DOTI often spends upwards of $700,000 on a single traffic light installation. Last month 9news reported that the street with the most speed trap tickets is 17th avenue between Fillmore and Jackson passing by East High School: Let’s use some of the ticket revenue from this stretch to implement the East Avenues Safety Study recommendations. Rather than fining drivers who speed on a road that encourages speeding, let’s fix the road to prevent speeding to begin with.
Based on data from Denver’s Vision Zero database, in the year of no action since this study was published, there have been 582 crashes, 145 injuries, 27 incapacitating injuries and one death on East 13th, 14th and 17th avenues. How many more years do we have to wait for meaningful change? My two daughters walk to Middle School at 13th and Emerson, trying to avoid dangerous speeding cars every day. We are begging the city to act.
When DOTI cancels a safety project after the wealthy Anschutz family hires a lobbyist to petition against it and ignores recommendations from its own safety studies, when a record 93 people died in traffic during the Mayor’s second year in office, we must correct course. Consider this a simple first step: speed bumps on our most dangerous streets. The Mayor speaks of a vibrant and safe Denver. Let’s start with a Denver where our kids are not afraid to cross the street.
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