To: Honorable Mayor and Members of Town Council
Through: David L. Corliss, Town Manager
Daniel Sailer, P.E. Director of Public Works
From: Jacob Vargish, P.E. Transportation Planning and Traffic Engineering
Title
Resolution Approving and Adopting the Town of Castle Rock Transportation Safety Action Plan
Body
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Executive Summary
The purpose of this item is to approve a resolution (Attachment A) adopting the Transportation Safety Action Plan (TSAP) (Attachment B). The adoption of the plan is supported by the Public Works, Fire, and Police departments.
Safety on Town roadways is a key element valued by the community. It’s a significant focus of staff efforts. The causes of vehicle crashes on roadways are widely variable, and therefore requires a collaborative and multi-variable approach to reduce. The challenge is that the largest cause of vehicle crashes are the result of driver behavior. As such, the Town’s efforts alone have limitations on crash reductions. In order to leverage our finite resources, it is important for us to utilize a targeted approach. This plan leverages research-based recommendations that should assist with providing the best cost/benefit ratios.
If approved, Town staff would use this plan to:
• Explore speed management education, enforcement, and engineering strategies with Police on four high priority corridors: Meadows Pkwy, Founders Pkwy, Meadows Blvd, and Plum Creek Pkwy. The cost of implementation to be determined based on strategies utilized.
• Create implementation work plan for low cost, highly effective signage, marking, and signal modification recommendations at 60 locations. The anticipated cost is $320,000. Implementation will be contingent on annual budget development.
• Create a 5-year plan for budget and resources to complete high benefit to cost ratio projects at 54 locations, including: speed tables, clearing intersection sight lines, vehicle movement restrictions, additional signal detection technology, revise pedestrian crossing setbacks, advanced warning beacons, and curb extensions. The anticipated cost is $1.7M. Implementation will be contingent on annual budget development.
• Apply for SS4A implementation grant funding in 2025 for the entirety of the benefit cost analysis summary in Table 1.
• Continue process of evaluating traffic control changes on an annual basis, like roundabout and traffic signal improvements. Budget for those improvements through capital traffic signal and capital improvement programs. Estimated cost is $18M over 15 years.
• Continue collaboration and coordination with Police, Fire, PW Traffic, Communications, Douglas County School District, and CDOT on action plan items to impact safer roads, safer speeds, and safer people. Cost is part of annual work programs and for new initiatives and programs the cost will be determined based on implementation strategy.
• Create a biennial report card and review of traffic safety implementations, and crash history status to inform safety performance and continuing actions to reduce serious injury and fatal crashes. If done by Town staff, no additional cost.
During the development of the plan, the Public Works Department, Fire Department, Police Department, and Communications Division worked with the consultant, Fehr and Peers, and external stakeholders, such as CDOT and Douglas County School District, to develop a comprehensive action plan to improve safety and quality of life for residents. This is done by focusing on countermeasures and implementations that can reduce high injury and fatal crash types at locations throughout the Town. The plan includes the following major items:
• A Comprehensive Traffic Safety Analysis that identifies common serious crash types and locations, with particular focus on vulnerable users.
• A High Injury Network (HIN) that maps the streets in Castle Rock with the highest historic serious and fatal crash activity and a High Risk Network (HRN) that maps the highest risk factors for serious crashes.
• Community and Stakeholder Engagement that captures the perceived safety issues and priorities of the community and ensures action items correspond with local needs.
• An Inclusion Index to identify and prioritize roadways that people are likely to be using to access essential services.
• A Toolbox of Systemic Safety Countermeasures so the Town can systemically address the most serious crash types.
• An Action Plan that identifies strategies to improve safety through both engineering solutions and other actions.
• An Implementation Guide for staff to implement safety projects based on identified prioritization criteria and as funding is available.
This project was completed through a $240,000 direct recipient grant from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) as part of the Safe Streets For All (SS4A) grant program (Attachment C). The Town provided a 20% match, or roughly $60,000 for the plan that has a total cost of $300,000.
Notification and Outreach Efforts
Public outreach efforts were incorporated in the development of the TSAP. Community engagement helped to identify traffic safety concerns and potential solutions in Castle Rock. The project team completed two phases of community and stakeholder engagement to develop the TSAP. In the first phase of outreach, the public was surveyed to best understand their transportation safety concerns and where those concerns were most prominent throughout the community. In the second phase of outreach, we introduced the public to a variety of safety countermeasures that could be adopted as part of this project and gauged their opinion on the effectiveness of these countermeasures. All community outreach was gathered to bolster the statistically significant crash analysis and provide additional context to prioritization of mitigations based on the crash analysis. The following list shows some of the various efforts the project used to solicit input.
• An interactive project web page,
• Online surveys; for residents and HOAs, school communities, developmental disability centers, senior centers, and for targeting businesses,
• Two public pop up events; hosting a booth at the Recreation Center during a craft fair, and a First Friday event engaging families and concert goers,
• Stakeholder meetings (Town departments, CDOT, Douglas County School District representatives),
• A social media campaign,
• News Releases and articles
History of Past Town Council, Boards & Commissions, or Other Discussions
On January 6th, 2024, the TSAP was presented to the Public Works Commission. The Plan was unanimously recommended for approval by Town Council.
Discussion
Town staff applied for and was awarded a direct recipient grant from FHWA as a part of the SS4A grant program. The Town retained the services of Fehr and Peers to help develop the TSAP. Development of the plan took 18 months and included public outreach and engagement, comprehensive traffic safety analysis, creation of a well researched toolkit for reducing the most serious crash types, identifying Action Plan strategies to improve safety through both engineering solutions and other actions, and a prioritized implementation guide based on the greatest benefit to cost ratio which aims to focus the Town’s finite resources.
The various departments will utilize this plan on an annual basis in their planning, programming, and budget development. Specifically, Public Works will utilize it to assist with budget development, prioritization of improvement locations and crash types, and in collaboration with the school district on Safe Routes to School initiatives. Fire will utilize this plan to further enhance and continue Traffic Incident Management (TIM) first responder training, work with Public Works on preemption technology to improve response times, and participate in response investigations for serious and fatal crashes. Police will utilize this plan to explore enforcement and education areas of focus for speed management, and high visibility enforcement (HIVE) initiatives in high crash areas.
Identifying crash profiles helps determine the most effective safety countermeasures for locations that have experienced or may experience these types of serious or fatal crashes. A toolbox of relevant safety interventions is provided in the Plan. Five crash profiles were identified in Castle Rock that represent the most common crash types that result in fatal and serious injury crashes. Collectively, these crash types represent 90% of serious crashes that occurred in Castle Rock from 2018 to 2022.
• Profile 1: Pedestrian & Cyclists-Involved Crashes,
• Profile 2: Roadway Departure Crashes - Fixed Objects & Overturning Crashes
• Profile 3: Broadside Crashes & Approach Turn Crashes at Unsignalized Intersections
• Profile 4: Broadside Crashes & Approach Turn Crashes at Signalized Intersections
• Profile 5: Rear-End Crashes
Creating a comprehensive speed management program can reduce roadway fatalities that include speeding as a contributing factor by addressing concerns of undesirable speeds at specific locations. The corridors in Castle Rock recommended for speed management, include:
• Meadows Boulevard,
• Meadows Parkway,
• Founders Parkway,
• and Plum Creek Parkway.
While Castle Rock is working towards the implementation of safety countermeasures at the highest priority locations, the Town will also look to advance safety improvements across the entire Town. Systemic improvements can be implemented as stand-alone systemic safety projects at multiple locations, or when opportunities arise during other related construction projects, such as street reconstruction, or as part of other pavement maintenance programs. System safety improvements that were identified during the development of this safety action plan include:
• Left-turn improvements; through signal phase retiming, and improved left turn
• lane offsets;
• Pedestrian & Bicycle Improvements; through directional ramps, rectangular rapid flashing beacon (RRFB), pedestrian hybrid beacons, and other supplemental crossing treatments,
• Red-light running improvements; increase visibility of signal heads, coordinate signal timing on higher speed roadways, adjust yellow and all-red clearance times, signal timing adjustments in the “dilemma zone” and implement advanced warning systems.
The priority project list that emerged from the TSAP was prioritized based on a set of criteria including the potential benefits of a project against its financial costs and also on location-based characteristics. Intersection safety improvement projects were prioritized using the following methodology:
• Projects were grouped by safety intervention, and organized by those with the highest to lowest benefit-to-cost ratio (BCR). Project locations within each safety intervention category were categorized as High (BCR (10 or more), Medium BCR (between 1 and 10), and Low BCR (less than 1).
• Within each safety intervention grouping, locations of specific projects were further prioritized by location-based criteria outlines in the Plan. Locations with a higher score were prioritized.
This plan is founded on the Safe System approach-a holistic and proactive strategy aimed at ensuring the safety of all road users. The Safe System approach acknowledges the complex interplay between human behavior, vehicles, infrastructure, and organizational policies. The cornerstone of the Safe System approach is the understanding that human errors are inevitable and that transportation systems should strive to accommodate these mistakes without leading to fatalities or serious injuries. The Town’s efforts alone cannot eliminate crashes that result in severe injuries and fatalities. By focusing on creating a forgiving road environment, rapid response to crashes, fostering responsible road user behavior, and enforcing traffic laws, this plan aspires to build a transportation network where safety is ingrained in every aspect.
This plan acknowledges that the Town’s finite resources alone through Police Enforcement, Emergency Response, Engineering, and Education are limited in how they can eliminate fatal and serious injury crashes. As such, the recommendations developed are focused on maximizing the safety benefit with the finite resources available. The objectives of this Transportation Safety Action Plan are to systematically identify and mitigate risk factors, promote a culture of safety, and ensure sustainable, long-term improvements in road safety. This is done through recommendations which are based on research, proven to show a reduction in crashes that result in fatalities and serious injuries. This includes the deployment of advanced technologies, rigorous data analysis, stakeholder collaboration, and continuous assessment and refinement of safety measures. Ultimately, the goal is to get further along down a Road towards Zero- a future with fewer traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries which are the performance metrics we will measure, report, and seek to minimize.
By embracing the principles of the Safe System approach, we embark on a path towards a safer, more resilient transportation network that protects and empowers all its users by maximizing the resources available to a us, with a continued focus on safety.
This plan not only aims to save lives but also to create a more inclusive, efficient, and greater quality of life and travel experience for everyone.
Budget Impact
The TSAP was budgeted in Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 and FY 2024. As mentioned earlier nearly 80% of the plan was funded through the FHWA SS4A grant program administered directly between FHWA and the Town. The grant amount was $240,000 which required a local match from the Town for roughly $60,000. The Plan has a total cost of $300,000. Recommendations and improvements identified in the plan are considered fiscally unconstrained and are not specifically funded at this time. Implementation will require further staff prioritizing, planning, programming and implementation, possible construction drawings, and will need to be considered against other priorities by Town Council during the annual budget and CIP discussions. Currently, there are funds available to Public Works in the Traffic Safety Improvement account (120-3175-431-75.26) to complete traffic safety projects and can be used to begin this planning and recommendation process. By completing this FHWA endorsed Safety Action Plan, including Town Council adoption, SS4A Implementation Grant Program opportunities are available to the Town and will be explored to complete the highest priority projects and leverage safety improvement funding.
Staff Recommendations
On January 6th, 2024, the TSAP was presented to the Public Works Commission. The Plan was unanimously recommended for approval by Town Council. Staff recommends that Town Council approve the resolution adopting the Transportation Safety Action Plan as presented by staff.
Proposed Motion
“I move to approve the Transportation Safety Action Plan as introduced by title.”
Attachments
Resolution
Attachment A - Transportation Safety Action Plan
Attachment B - Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Program Facts