What we know about Fort Collins' most dangerous intersections and plans to fix them
The intersection of College Avenue and Drake Road is a daily chaotic convergence of vehicles in the heart of Fort Collins.
It's an intersection marked by heavy traffic in all directions and access roads near the intersection that require drivers to make split decisions darting in and out of traffic — all made more dangerous by distracted, aggressive and impaired drivers, some driving too fast.
Put that all together and you have the most dangerous intersection in Fort Collins, according to the city's recently released 2022 Annual Roadway Safety Report.
The intersection's crash numbers are not lost on Tyler Stamey, city traffic engineer, who said solutions to reduce crashes at Drake and College are on the way.
After College Avenue and Horsetooth Road was identified as the city's most dangerous intersection after the 2016-2018 report, Fort Collins spent $7.5 million on improvements to the intersection completed in 2019. The changes resulted in a significant reduction in crashes and the intersection dropping off the most dangerous intersection list.
Stamey said that blueprint will be used at College and Drake, which is a mile north of the Horsetooth Road intersection.
"We will take what we learned with safety improvements at College and Horsetooth and apply it to College and Drake," Stamey said. "My expectation is we will see similar results in crash reductions."
He said the current estimate for a complete revamp of the College Avenue and Drake Road intersection is $15 million, with anticipated construction in 2026.
Here's what improvements will include as identified by a 2022 safety audit of the intersection:
Dual left-turn lanes east and westbound along Drake Road.
Improve current left-turn lanes along College Avenue.
Modifications to the frontage roads south of the intersection to enhance safety.
Off-street facility to improve bicycle and pedestrian safety.
"Certainly, we can adopt best practices in design and include emerging safety trends to our road projects," Stamey said. "It's not as simple as posting slower speed limits. We can't solve our traffic issues by ourselves. We need the community's help in reducing crashes by changing behaviors that lead to crashes, such as being distracted, aggressive, impaired and speeding."
This story is one of multiple looking at roadway safety in the Fort Collins area. A recent story examined safety data from the 2022 Annual Roadway Safety Report looking at pedestrian and cycling crashes. Another piece examining motorcycle crash trends kicked off the series of stories from data in the report.
A snapshot of where Fort Collins is with roadway crashes
Fort Collins averaged about 3,100 total crashes annually over the past five years.
Crashes decreased 27% in 2022 compared to 2018. This likely is not reflective of reality due to some noninjury crashes not being reported to the state starting in 2020, Stamey said.
In 2022, there were 384 severe crashes (injury or fatality).
Severe crashes increased 46% in 2022 compared to 2018. The reporting of these crashes has remained the same, resulting in accurate data, Stamey said.
There were 13 fatal crashes involving only motor vehicles in the city from 2020-2022.
The overall annual societal cost of these crashes is $161 million.
Fort Collins averages 5.2 fatal crashes per 100,000 people compared to the state average of 6.2.
Source: Fort Collins 2022 Annual Roadway Safety Report
Fort Collins' 10 most dangerous intersections
Here are the city's most dangerous intersections as determined by excess expected crash costs in 2020-2022, according to the 2022 Safety in the City report.
Of note: Nearly 90% of overall crashes and severe crashes occur on arterial (main) roads and nearly 80% at an intersection, driveway or alley access.
College Avenue and Drake Road
$791,361 excess expected crash costs in 2020-2022.
No. 3 in last year’s report (2019-2021).
Second-busiest intersection with 68,433 average daily vehicle count.
No. 1 in excessive injury/fatal crashes in 2020-2022 with 3.8 such crashes over what was expected.
No. 2 in serious injury crashes with 10 in last three years.
Solutions: Capital project in design phase.
2. Lemay Avenue and Harmony Road
$628,040 excess expected crash costs in 2020-2022.
No. 11 in last year’s report.
Third-busiest intersection with 60,171 average daily vehicle count.
No. 2 in excessive injury/fatal crashes in 2020-2022 with 2.9 such crashes over what was expected.
Solutions: Adaptive signal timing added in 2019. Crashes trending down.
3. Shields Street and Prospect Road
$565,117 excess expected crash costs in 2020-2022.
No. 5 in last year’s report.
Eighth-busiest intersection with 46,739 average daily vehicle count.
No. 4 in excessive injury/fatal crashes in 2020-2022 with 2.4 such crashes over what was expected.
Solutions: Red light cameras added in 2020, slightly reducing crashes.
4. Lemay Avenue and Drake Road
$537,247 excess expected crash costs in 2020-2022.
No. 9 in last year’s report.
Sixth-busiest intersection with 48,728 average daily vehicle count.
No. 3 in excessive injury/fatal crashes in 2020-2022 with 2.6 such crashes over what was expected.
Solutions: Right-turn lanes design to start in 2024 with current budget of $1 million. Red light cameras expected to be functional later in 2023.
5. Boardwalk Drive and Harmony Road
$499,099 excess expected crash costs in 2020-2022.
No. 4 in last year’s report.
Fourth-busiest intersection with 55,037 average daily vehicle count.
No. 5 in excessive injury/fatal crashes in 2020-2022 with 2.2 such crashes over what was expected.
Solutions: Crashes reduced by 16 per year since protected left-hand turns were added and signal timing improvements were made in 2019.
6. College Avenue and Trilby Road
$366,002 excess expected crash costs in 2020-2022.
No. 1 in last year’s report.
Twelfth-busiest intersection with 45,174 average daily vehicle count.
No. 6 in excessive injury/fatal crashes in 2020-2022 with 1.7 such crashes over what was expected.
Solutions: Protected left turns added in 2020 resulted in 22 fewer crashes on average the last two years. The intersection will undergo a $12 million reconstruction, including dual left-turn lanes for north and south College Avenue, dedicated left- and right-turn lanes and two full thru-lanes in each direction of Trilby Road as well as full facilities for bicycles, pedestrians and transit users. Minor construction is scheduled to start in the fourth quarter of 2023. Major construction is expected to start in the spring of 2024 and last seven to nine months.
7. John F. Kennedy Parkway and Harmony Road
$302,378 excess expected crash costs in 2020-2022.
No. 14 in last year’s report. Largest ranking increase of top 10.
Ninth-busiest intersection with 46,531 average daily vehicle count.
No. 7 in excessive injury/fatal crashes in 2020-2022 with 1.4 such crashes over what was expected.
Solutions: Priority for safety audit. Conceptual design of JFK Parkway from Harmony Road to Horsetooth Road and expected modification of traffic signal at this intersection.
8. College Avenue and Mulberry Street
$298,216 excess expected crash costs in 2020-2022.
No. 6 in last year’s report.
Fifth-busiest intersection with 49,330 average daily vehicle count.
Tied No. 9 in excessive injury/fatal crashes in 2020-2022 with 1.0 such crashes over what was expected.
Solutions: No current improvements planned but priority for safety audit.
9. Shields Street and Plum Street
$278,466 excess expected crash costs in 2020-2022.
No. 8 in last year’s report.
Thirteenth-busiest intersection with 32,196 average daily vehicle count.
No. 8 in excessive injury/fatal crashes in 2020-2022 with 1.2 such crashes over what was expected.
Solutions: No current improvements planned but priority for safety audit.
10. Timberline Road and Carpenter Road
$262,340 excess expected crash costs in 2020-2022.
No. 10 in last year’s report.
Thirty-fourth-busiest intersection with 26,800 average daily vehicle count.
Tied No. 9 in excessive injury/fatal crashes in 2020-2022 with 1.0 such crashes over what was expected.
Solutions: Funded project for westbound Carpenter Road right-turn lane.
Additional highlights
The intersection of Shields Street and Horsetooth Road saw the biggest reduction in crashes, moving from the No. 2 worst intersection last year to No. 35 this reporting period without any improvements made.
Of the top 10 most dangerous intersections, eight saw improving safety trends, one saw a decreasing safety trend and one was neutral.
Top 5 intersections with most serious injury crashes 2020-2022
Timberline Road and Harmony Road: 12. This intersection also is by far the city's busiest intersection with an average daily vehicle count of 82,439.
College Avenue and Drake Road: 10
Timberline Road and Carpenter Road: 9
Timberline Road and Lemay Road: 8
Taft Hill Road and Prospect Road: 8
Top 5 intersections with highest increasing crash trend from 2017-2019 report to 2020-2022 report
Lemay Avenue and Riverside Avenue: Crash costs rose $315,563.
JFK Parkway and Harmony Road: Crash costs rose $212,620.
College Avenue and Boardwalk Drive: Crash costs rose $209,018.
Taft Hill Road and Trilby Road: Crash costs rose $193,038.
College Avenue and Laporte Avenue: Crash costs rose $154,779.
Top 5 intersections in crash reduction after improvements
College Avenue and Horsetooth Road: Formerly the most dangerous intersection, it has seen a crash reduction of 34 compared to three previous years before the $7.5 million intersection rebuild in 2019.
College Avenue and Trilby Road: Last year's most dangerous intersection was reduced to No. 6 on this year's list after protected left-turn lanes were added in 2020, resulting in 23 fewer crashes than the three years previous to the project. Major improvements are slated for the intersection.
College Avenue and Monroe Avenue: This intersection underwent renovation in 2018, resulting in 20 fewer crashes than the three previous years to the project.
Snow Mesa Drive and Harmony Road: Protected left-turn lanes were added in 2018, resulting in nine fewer crashes than the three previous years to project.
Shields Street and Mulberry Street: Photo radar was added in 2020, resulting in eight fewer crashes than the three previous years to the project.
Intersections with most crashes by type
Shields Street and Prospect Road: 20 approach-turn crashes in last three years (College Avenue and Troutman Parkway is second with 19). These are crashes involving two vehicles traveling in opposite directions when one turns left (or attempts a U-turn) in front of an oncoming vehicle. They result in the highest percentage of severe crashes at 20%.
College Avenue and Kensington Drive: 14 right-angle crashes in last three years (College Avenue and Mulberry Street is second with 13). These occur at intersections when one vehicle illegally turns in front of another vehicle. They result in the second-highest percentage of severe crashes at 19%.
Timberline Road and Harmony Road: 68 rear-end crashes in last three years (College Avenue and Harmony Road is second with 64). Rear-end crashes are the most prevalent crash type in Fort Collins, accounting for 38% of all crashes, and are the third-highest percentage of severe crashes at 17%.
College Avenue and Columbia Road and Timberline Road and Harmony Road: 12 running red light crashes in last three years (College Avenue and Drake Road is second with 10).
How safe are our roundabouts?
The report looked at the safety of four roundabouts, which studies indicate have fewer overall and less severe crashes than intersections with stop signs and stop lights, to see if these claims held true in Fort Collins.
Three of the four roundabouts reviewed had more crashes than expected when compared to other roundabouts. Still, these roundabouts are mostly safer than other types of intersections.
Remington Street and Laurel Street: $37,325 excess crash costs. 7,673 average daily vehicle count. Only one of four roundabouts reviewed that is not outperforming if a stop sign or signal was used.
Ziegler Road and Horsetooth Road: $14,628 excess expected crash costs. 25,367 average daily vehicle count.
Ziegler Road and Kechter Road: $11,056 excess expected crash costs. 113,027 average daily vehicle count.
Note: Shields Street and Vine Drive was $12,954 below excess expected crash costs
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: What we know about Fort Collins' most dangerous intersections
