Busy Colorado highway to get safety improvements

LARIMER COUNTY, Colo. — Colorado received more than $47 million from the U.S Department of Transportation for safety improvements along Highway 287 in Larimer and Boulder counties.

The funding is part of a more than $4.2 billion federal grant program.

The federal grant will help the Colorado Department of Transportation construct wildlife crossings and intersection improvements, add passing lanes and centerline rumble strips, widen shoulders, and install median barriers.

“It’s going to be a major project, but it’s a major corridor between Wyoming and Colorado. This stretch becomes a major issue when we have bad weather,” CDOT regional communication manager northeastern Colorado Jared Fiel said. “That becomes an area that gets a lot of closures, and we need to be able to make sure everybody gets safely in and out.”

CDOT began to study safety improvements along the corridor in 2023. The average daily traffic ranges from 4,300 to 9,500 vehicles per day.

Highway 287 is also a prominent freight corridor and experiences nearly 900 trucks per day.

In the study period, 309 crashes were reported along US 287 from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2021. 8 of those crashes were fatal crashes, 12 people died.

According to CDOT, preliminary data for 2022, 2023, and 2024 there were two additional fatal crashes during this period which resulted in six additional deaths.

The most recent happened back in February, 3 University of Wyoming swimmers died on Highway 287 near Red Mountain Road in Larimer County.

Colorado State Patrol believes the driver swerved to avoid a car that had slowed down: Their car went off the shoulder and rolled multiple times.

The Highway 287 project will be broken up into two parts. The first will be from Boulder to Longmont, which is an open four lane stretch.

According to Fiel, this area sees a lot of crossover accidents, meaning people going into the wrong lane. The goal is to place a concrete barrier in the median to help with any confusion.

The second part of the project stretches from Fort Collins up to the Wyoming border. Of all the crashes along this stretch, 33% include wildlife collision. Improvements will I close animal fencing and additional passing lanes.

“Both of these projects will have pretty significant impacts when they’re going on. It depends on how crews will be doing it. Since we’re going to be putting a concrete median in the middle of 287, that’s going to close some lanes,” said Fiel.

The project is still in the design process, though CDOT hopes construction can start next year.