CHAFFEE COUNTY, CO. – Chaffee County is embarking on a “Safety Action Plan” to make its roads safer for all users and seeks community input as part of the data collection phase of the project.
Chaffee County road users are invited to share traffic, biking, walking, and other safety concerns through an online map and brief survey at: bit.ly/chaffee-safety-survey.Participants can pin areas of concern on a map and note specific details within the survey.
The Safety Action Plan is a county-wide assessment of roadway safety issues, focused on documented incidents and crashes resulting in damage, injury, and fatalities. An important part of the effort is to gather community input on dangerous areas along roads and road user behavior, whether or not an actual incident has occurred. The survey seeks information from all road users, including drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, e-bikers, scooter riders, roller bladers, dog walkers, cat walkers, and onewheelers. Migratory animals cannot reliably use computers, so survey respondents are asked to share concerns about wildlife in roadways as well.
An average of five people get killed each year on Chaffee County roads, double the state and national average. As Chaffee County provides significant wildlife habitat for many species of animals, wildlife in the roadways is also a significant hazard to motorists. 25% percent of the County’s reported traffic collisions involve wildlife, a rate more than 7 times higher than the state average. The County’s goal is to have zero fatal or serious injury crashes on County roads and highways by 2045.
The Safety Action Plan is funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Safe Streets for All (SS4A) program. The program funds regional, local, and Tribal initiatives through grants for development of Action Plans that will support communities in creating strategic approaches to significantly reducing or eliminating roadway fatalities and serious injuries for all user groups. Full details on the program are at www.transportation.gov/grants/SS4A.
A complete and informed SS4A Safety Action Plan will allow Chaffee County to pursue future implementation funding for infrastructure projects, such as improved pedestrian crossings, medians, lighting, guard rails, rumble strips, shoulder widening, and wildlife crossing structures. The two funding focus areas – planning and implementation – have been designed by SS4A to be complementary: implementation grants are only available to applicants who have developed an Action Plan through the USDOT planning grant program, and who have identified specific projects and strategies that will support achievement of the safety goals and outcomes.
Road safety is an ongoing concern for Chaffee County. The 2020 Chaffee County Comprehensive Plan set a goal for the County to enhance safety by reducing fatalities and serious injuries for all modes of transportation. The Safety Action Plan’s focus on mitigating fatalities and serious injuries directly addresses this goal.
The County has hired transportation consulting firm Fehr & Peers to manage the Safety Action Plan project. Fehr & Peers has significant experience with Safety Action Plans in the high country, having completed Gunnison County’s Comprehensive Safety Action Plan which ultimately led to a $15 million award for implementation in 2024.
The County has also selected ECO-resolutions, a Salida-based transportation ecology firm, to assist with the wildlife-vehicle collision mitigation aspects. ECO-resolutions has led planning efforts for some of Colorado’s highest-profile wildlife-vehicle collision mitigation projects, including the wildlife crossing structures on State Highway 9 near Kremmling and the I-25 South project near Castle Rock.
More information is available on the project website:https://fp.mysocialpinpoint.com/chaffee-county-safer-roadways-all-action-plan, or via the County’s website at chaffeecounty.org.
Questions should be directed to the Chaffee County Community Planning & Natural Resources Department via email at or via phone at (719) 530-5630.
