The city of Greeley will move ahead with a plan to eliminate all traffic fatalities in 20 years.
Greeley City Council on Tuesday approved the Safe Streets 4 All Vision Zero Action Plan in a 5-2 vote. Vision Zero is a strategy that aims to eliminate serious injuries and fatalities from dangerous road conditions, operating on the belief that all traffic collisions are preventable.
Under the Safe Streets 4 All project, the city will focus on managing excessive speeds and addressing high-risk areas, which include most of downtown and U.S. 34, due to the frequency of collisions.
City staff proposed several new regulations when the plan was previously presented to the council, such as implementing more roundabouts, which have been shown to reduce crashes by 80%. The city also suggested reducing the default speed limit from 30 mph to 25 mph and plans to construct protected bike lanes within the year.
According to the Greeley Public Works Department, there have been 16,648 crashes in the city from 2014-23, and 269 resulted in serious injuries and 80 of those crashes resulted in deaths deaths.
“Oftentimes, I feel like I’m engaging in risky behavior when I walk to work,” lifelong Greeley resident Leah Bookman said during the public hearing Tuesday. “I applaud the city for finally bringing some structure and safety to our roads.”
Jim Riesberg, the coordinator for Greeley Walks, also voiced his eager support for this new plan on Tuesday. Riesberg congratulated city officials on their good work and promised that Greeley Walks would provide the city with whatever support they needed.
“As the coordinator of Greeley Walks, we are prepared to share this project with residents through educational pop-up events and inform the public of its timeline and progress to truly make this a community effort,” he said.
Despite the outpouring of community support, At-Large Councilman Brett Payton and Councilman Johnny Olson of Ward 3 had reservations about the plan. Both were concerned about what they described as a potential “blank check” that they may be handing to the city, as the motion had no associated cost despite the numerous road projects involved.
“There isn’t a cost associated with this as the motion is to adopt a safety protocol and plan to embed it in future projects,” Public Works Director Paul Trombino said.
Trombino elaborated that the action plan would be a new framework in which the city would plan future road projects. No price was added to the motion as no projects would be approved by the passing of this plan.
“This plan will fundamentally change how Greeley residents move, and we don’t know the effects of that,” Olson said. “I’m all for safety, and I’m a fan of this plan, but I have to be honest, I haven’t read everything in this plan, I haven’t read about each project, and I’m wary of approving this plan without knowing everything that’s in it.”
Councilman Tommy Butler of Ward 1 and Councilwoman Deb Deboutez of Ward 2 were very supportive of the plan and its benefits to the residents they represent. The city’s study showed 84% of all traffic fatalities involving pedestrians and bicyclists occurred in Wards 1 and 2.
“I’m very much in support of this plan,” Deboutez said. “If we can make our streets safer for our citizens, let’s adopt this plan. We can have these budget discussions when it’s time to have them.”
The Safe Streets 4 All Action Plan passed in a 5-2 vote, with Payton and Olson being the only council members who voted against it. Before the vote, Trombino confirmed with the council that none of the proposed changes would be implemented immediately.
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