West Colfax Safety Project: 1st Survey Results

LAKEWOOD, CO — Lakewood officials are gathering community feedback on the city's West Colfax Safety Project, which aims to improve the main artery between Sheridan and Wadsworth boulevards.

"This segment of West Colfax has the highest concentration of traffic injuries and deaths in Lakewood, and safety improvements, particularly for pedestrians, are urgently needed," the project's website reads.

Nearly 600 people responded to the project's first survey. Here are the results:

How safe do you feel by each mode of travel?

• 75 percent of pedestrians who responded feel unsafe walking on Colfax
• Transit users tend to be more neutral
• 67 percent of respondents feel safe driving on Colfax

Respondents' top priorities for improving crossing safety:

1. Improve crosswalk visibility
2. Increase overhead lighting
3. Provide a protected place to wait in the median
4. Add signage guiding pedestrians to safe crossing points

Don't miss the latest news updates in Lakewood: Free Lakewood Patch Newsletters and Email Alerts | Facebook | Twitter

Respondents' top priorities for improving transit safety:

1. Better light at bus stops
2. Improved street lights for walking to transit
3. Bus pullouts so that passengers are waiting away from traffic
4. Improved sidewalk connections

Top priorities for improving driving safety:

1. Pedestrians cross in expected locations
2. A place for buses to pull out when stopping
3. Better lighting for visibility and safety
4. Long left turn lanes so they don't back up

Top priorities for improving walking:

1. Consistent sidewalks on Colfax
2. Better pedestrian lighting
3. Sidewalks with separation between pedestrians and cars
4. Reducing points of conflict, so there are fewer spots where pedestrians have to watch out for drivers

What prevents you from walking in the area? (Top priorities)

1. Too many cars/speeding
2. None or inadequate sidewalks
3. Lack of safe pedestrian crossings
4. Lack of destinations I want/need to walk to

Improving the overall experience, top priorities:

1. Decorative or landscaped buffers to separate pedestrians and cars
2. Wider sidewalks
3. Improved lighting
4. Destinations (dining, shopping, parks and gyms)

The West Colfax Safety Project is launching a second survey, which can be found here. The new survey focuses on people's top priorities for design elements, what they should look like and how the character areas should be defined.

>> Learn more about the West Colfax Safety Project here.