Pedestrian safety is important and if there were an easy button, this would be the time to use it. Over the last few years, the Town of Windsor has actively worked to identify and implement traffic calming and pedestrian safety measures throughout Windsor, including State Hwy. 392. But when it comes to pedestrian safety, there isn’t an easy button. Residents have voiced concerns about growth, the location of State Hwy. 392 through town, the location of secondary schools, and traffic.
In short, residents want information. They want to know how the town has addressed pedestrian safety in the past. They want to know how the town will improve pedestrian safety in the future.
Communities often have guidelines and processes in place that support sustainable decision making for transportation and pedestrian safety infrastructure. Guidelines often require research and data-based decision-making that incorporates industry proven best practices.
Specific to Windsor, pedestrian safety is top-of-mind for town leadership, now and in the future.
The town adopted its Pedestrian Crossing Guidelines in 2018, which were given immediate priority by town leadership, resulting in an annual budget of $100,000 that is specifically targeted towards pedestrian safety. The document
serves as a way for staff to identify, evaluate, and prioritize pedestrian safety projects throughout our community. To review the document, visit windsorgov.com/ PedestrianGuidelines
Additionally, the Town of Windsor engineering staff are working to develop a Neighborhood Speed Management Program. During the process, guidelines will be developed with an intent to:
• Examine education, enforcement, evaluation, and engineering as a function of successful speed management practices;
• Identify ways to identify and prioritize future speed management projects and potential project variables;
• Determine project eligibility by determining factors such as speed thresholds, volume thresholds, crash history and other criteria; and,
• Determine specifications or limitations on the types of acceptable engineering devices that should or should not be used to manage speeds.
Once the Neighborhood Speed Management guidelines are developed, they will be reviewed during a public Town Board meeting and evaluated prior to implementation.
These projects are among several projects covered by Windsor’s engineering team. The engineering team is a dedicated group of professionals that help set the framework for sustainable, safe development of town infrastructure, of which both pedestrian and transportation safety are included.
To learn more about the work covered by Windsor’s engineers, visit windsorgov.com/Engineering.
The following is a list of upcoming pedestrian safety projects. This list does not include annual pedestrian infrastructure maintenance such as concrete rehabilitation to sidewalks, curbs and gutters, or general crosswalk accessibility improvements.
Downtown Main Street Alternate Route
State Hwy. 257 & Eastman Park Dr. Intersection Improvements
Traffic Signal at Hollister Lake Rd (Weld County Rd. 19) & Sundance Dr.
Hollister Lake Rd. & Main St. (State Hwy. 392)
Intersection Improvements
Study potential alternatives to mitigate traffic through the downtown Main Street area of Windsor.
Carryover of 2022 CDOT grant-funded project to widen the intersection at State Hwy. 257 & Eastman Park Dr.. The space between existing islands makes it difficult and hazardous for trucks turning left.
A warrant study was completed in November 2021 which determined the need for a signal at Hollister Lake Rd. and Sundance Dr. Design and installation scheduled for completion in 2023.
Intersection construction will complete the process of widening Hollister Lake Rd. north of Main St. to help alleviate traffic backups into the roundabout south of Main St. and provide pedestrian access to the intersection for the residents that live in the subdivisions east of Hollister Lake Rd. Construction will add a northbound lane, bike lane and sidewalk to match the cross-section north of Sundance Dr.
7th St. & Walnut Dr. Multimodal Improvements
Design of future roadway improvements along Eastman Park Dr. from State Hwy. 257 to the east of Diamond Valley Dr.
Phase 2 of this project takes place in 2023 and includes the hardening of improvements made in 2021, as well as the design of several further pedestrian and bicycle improvements that will be constructed from 2024 through 2026. These improvements include roundabouts on 7th St. at Garden Dr. and Stone Mountain Dr. Eastman Park Dr. Improvements (Design)
Pedestrian Railroad Crossings (Design)
11th St. Multimodal Project - Greeley No. 2 Ditch Trail to Sagewood Dr. (Design)
Walnut & 3rd Streets Sidewalk Improvement
There are several locations throughout Windsor that are missing pedestrian railroad crossings, resulting in gaps in sidewalk connectivity. This project is for the design of proper pedestrian railroad crossings in these locations to improve safety.
This project will seek to improve multimodal connectivity along 11th St., providing safer connections to the Community Recreation Center, Police Station, Windsor High School and the commercial areas near Main St. The project was identified as a need in the 2020 Transporation Master Plan update.
Construction of attached sidewalk along 3rd St. between Walnut St. and alley connection to better accommodate pedestrian traffic between Main St. and key destinations to the south, including Town Hall and Main Park.
In 2018, the Town of Windsor adopted Pedestrian Crossing Guidelines to serve as a standard for evaluating the need for crossing treatments. Requests for crossing treatments are common. These guidelines will be applied to determine if a crossing treatment is warranted and, if it is, the already-budgeted funds can be used to install necessary treatments.
This project will develop a traffic safety program that is data-driven and will assess and analyze crash data to develop targeted safety improvements. The program will also develop a neighborhood traffic safety program that address citizen traffic complaints, neighborhood livability, speeding and pedestrian safety.
There are several factors that contribute to traffic along Windsor’s busiest corridor, State Hwy. 392. The largest factors are population, travel dynamics and our geographic position in the region.
Northern Colorado’s population has grown exponentially. Windsor’s population has also grown. According to state demographics, together, Larimer and Weld counties grew 24.5% from 2010 to 2020. Statewide, the population increased 14.8%. Looking forward, the Town of Windsor is projected to grow at a future rate of 4.12% annually. Even still, by population alone, Windsor’s population is only 44,000. Compare that to Fort Collins which is at 168,000, Greeley which is at 109,000, and Loveland which is at 77,000, and the fact that State Hwy. 392 serves as a gateway between large surrounding cities and other rural communities, quelling growth in Windsor won’t mitigate concerns about highway traffic coming through Windsor. Afterall, many people within the region work in one city and live in another.
To help, northern Colorado communities are working to implement multimodal solutions
through capital projects and land development policies.
Town-led policies are important but so if personal involvement. Many people get in their cars every day and drive–mostly alone. The region could benefit from carpooling, biking, and through the use of transit systems such as the Poudre Express.
For information about the Poudre Express, visit greeleyevanstransit. com/routes/poudre-express
Although the highway can’t be moved, the Town of Windsor began researching the highway’s impact
on local traffic during the 2020 Transportation Master Plan effort. As part of the Transportation Master Plan public engagement process, a final report was developed that prioritized high-impact transportation projects. To read the report, visit windsorprojectconnect. com/transportation-master-plan
Per the Transportation Master Plan, the town is looking to add alternative east-west routes. To that end, in 2021, the Town of Windsor purchased 138 acres of land adjacent to the existing Public Services campus located north of the railroad tracks on 15th Street. The property is platted for the future expansion of Weld County Rd. 70 which would provide an east-west alternative for
those headed through Windsor and for residents headed toward the potential new school campus.
This year, the Downtown Alternative Route Study launched as a subset of the Transportation Master Plan. The Alternative Route Study is examining vehicular traffic patterns, out-of-town and in-town entry and exit points, traffic counts, and it's using public input to determine what, if anything, can be done to divert commuters between neighboring cities. Possible improvements that will be evaluated could include raised medians, enhanced pedestrian crossings, driveway/cross street access modifications, and intersection control modifications. Once the Alternative Route Study is complete, staff should be able to better identify how much this east-west segment contributes to traffic on State Hwy. 392 and Windsor’s Town Board should learn whether prioritizing an east-west alternative route on the town’s north or south side is most beneficial.
The Downtown Alternative Route Study is expected to be complete in early 2023. Learn more and subscribe to Downtown Alternative Route Study updates at windsorprojectconnect.com/ downtown-alternative-route-study.
Residents have asked about adding roadway signage, crossing guards, and police enforcement to State Hwy. 392. They’ve also asked about constructing a pedestrian bridge over the highway.
There are elements in which no amount of public safety measures can control, and that’s driver and pedestrian error. Intentional or not, people don’t always follow the traffic control measures that are in place.
The Town of Windsor currently funds and maintains the crossing guard program. Crossing guards are helpful but adding them is not a fail-safe. Last year a crossing guard was hit by a car. It’s also hard to recruit consistent crossing guards for existing locations. Police sometimes step in to cover crossing guard absences and are often visibly monitoring school zones, but they also need to respond to incoming criminal complaints and emergencies.
Sometimes there are rumblings on social media that the town should build a pedestrian overpass in the space adjacent to the school property. This is a complicated
matter and there are many barriers to success. In short, the space needed to effectively build an over- or under-pass doesn’t exist: there are numerous locations where youth cross the highway, meaning a single bridge wouldn't necessarily be effective. Additionally, the only effective way to require all youth to use the over- or underpass would be to construct fencing along the route, which is impractical as there is no effective way to build a fence across existing north-south intersections.
The Town of Windsor is working with the Colorado Department of Transportation to find different types of phasing options that could enhance pedestrian safety but even with every traffic calming measure or pedestrian safety measure possible, there will always be a human element.
Help keep our community safe by yielding to pedestrians crossing the street on their way to school, work or wherever they’re going. A vigilant driver is a safe driver.
Yield the right-of-way.
• When traffic signals are not in place or not working, yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing within a crosswalk.
• Do not pass a vehicle that is stopped.
• Drivers cannot park within 20 feet of a crosswalk.
• Take extra care when you see a child or anyone obviously confused or incapacitated.
Stay focused.
• Eliminate distractions; remain focused on driving.
• It is especially important to stay focused in school and construction zones. Many traffic violation fines are doubled in these special areas.
Obey traffic signs and signals.
• Walk when the “Walk” light or symbol is showing a steady green or white and traffic is clear. Don’t enter the roadway if the “Don’t Walk” indicator is flashing red. If you’re already in the crosswalk, continue to the nearest median or curb.
• Once the red light is a constant red, don’t cross or enter the crosswalk.
• Watch for traffic before entering the road.
• Keep watch for drivers that may not be focused on driving.
• Don’t leave a curb or other place of safety and ride, walk, or run into the path of a moving vehicle. Pedestrians must allow vehicles a reasonable time to stop before entering a crosswalk.
Looking at the intersection at 7th and Main St., there is a traffic control measure that is statistically shown to decrease instances of pedestrian-vehicle accidents. It’s called a Lead Pedestrian Interval or LPI. An LPI gives pedestrians the opportunity to enter an intersection crosswalk 3 to 7 seconds before vehicles, allowing them more time to cross before vehicles are legally allowed to proceed.
This option is statistically shown to increase pedestrian safety at signalized intersections because it reinforces pedestrians have the right-of-way before turning vehicles. The Town of Windsor is working with the Colorado Department of Transportation to see if this is a viable option for the intersection at 7th Street.
