Denver leaders broke ground on Thursday afternoon on $15.5 million in safety improvements for the West Colfax Corridor.

The project got its money from the voter-approved Elevate Denver Bond, the Colorado Department of Transportation’s Safer Main Streets program, as well as other city sources, according to the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure.

Several city leaders attended the groundbreaking, according to the transportation agency.

The groundbreaking and upcoming construction project are another phase in the agency’s efforts to improve safety along the vital economic corridor. Previous improvements have included “adding signage and treatments to make intersections safer” and changing traffic light timing that DOTI said would reduce vehicle speeds to the posted limits.

The latest project will likely be completed by fall 2025, according to Nancy Kuhn, the agency’s communications director.

Pedestrians will always have access to West Colfax businesses and two lanes of vehicle traffic will be maintained during nights and weekends for both directions on West Colfax, she said.

“Crews will utilize intermittent lane closures at off-peak hours, 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and shift the path of vehicle travel to support the safety of the workers, keeping at least one lane open in each direction,” Kuhn said.

The first round of improvements resulted in a 71% drop in fatal crashes and a 39% drop in serious injury crashes, DOTI said in a press release. The agency did not specify the timeline for the data it cited. According to the city’s own data, 10 fatalities have occurred since 2020, almost half of the total 21 since 2013.

All of the travel corridors above are part of the city’s “high injury network” of major arterial roads that have the highest number of traffic crashes and fatalities. The department is focusing its efforts and funding on these corridors, Kuhn said.

The improvements coming to West Colfax will include eight new landscaped center medians that the transportation agency said will “provide pedestrians with safe places to stand when crossing.” The department added these will reduce left turns that “create conflict points among people traveling.”

“The concrete medians in the center of the street will have cutouts where people can stand to cross,” Kuhn said. “Right now, at many spots along the corridor, there is no median for protection and the center lane serves as a center turn lane with no safe place to stand.”

A rendering provided to The Denver Gazette shows medians with elevated landscaping and a sheltered spot at road level where pedestrians can stand.

Kuhn said these have a proven track record of saving pedestrian lives, pointing to a U.S. Department of Transportation report highlighting a 32% reduction in pedestrian crashes. The city has added these so-called “pedestrian refuges” in other locations, as well, Kuhn said.

The project will also bring “bulb outs,” a curbed area that juts out into the intersection at crosswalks, to 19 crossings. These new bulb outs will reduce pedestrian crossing distances, slow vehicle turning movements and “improve the visibility of pedestrians and people on bikes,” the agency said.

“The project meets city and state goals to address Denver’s High Injury Network — the roads where most fatal and serious injury crashes are occurring in the city — and better protect vulnerable roadway users,” the transportation department said in a press release.

Denver has an ongoing pedestrian safety improvement plan called VisionZero, which seeks to reduce citywide traffic-related fatalities to zero. So far this year, 26 people have been killed in traffic crashes, according to the city’s dashboard. The last recorded fatality was June 5.

Last year, 83 people were killed on Denver streets, lower than in 2022 and 2021, but far higher than the 57 killed in 2020. The lowest recorded since the city began collecting data in 2013 was the 47 people killed that year.

Along the West Colfax Corridor, between Broadway and Sheridan Boulevard, Denver has recorded 21 fatalities since 2013. About half of those fatalities, 10, have occurred since 2020.

Federal Boulevard, north of Ellsworth Avenue, saw 18 fatalities since 2013 and north Broadway had 14 in the same period.

East Colfax Avenue had 17 fatalities since 2013.

Since 2020, East Colfax Avenue saw 10 fatalities, Federal Boulevard had 10 and North Broadway saw six.