Summit County is taking a bold step to significantly reduce fatal and severe injury crashes on its roads and bikeways by developing an aggressive and actionable Safe Streets for All (SS4A) Action Plan. The goal of this SS4A Action Plan is to undertake a comprehensive traffic safety analysis, engage the Summit County community to understand their top traffic safety concerns and hopes for the future, and develop a roadmap to work toward safer streets for locals and visitors alike. Recommendations will be focused in unincorporated Summit County, Breckenridge, Frisco, Dillon, and Blue River.

Thank you to those who provided their input on safety concerns during the first phase of public outreach! Phase 1 of public outreach ended on March 3, 2025. Community members can participate in Phase 2 of outreach in the following ways:

• Online survey with interactive webmap: Open now! Closes August 20
• Pop-up event at the Dillon Arts Festival, July 19, 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
• Virtual public meeting, July 30, 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
  • You can access the meeting at: bit.ly/TransportationSafetyPlan
  • Spanish interpretation provided

This phase of outreach will help the County refine and prioritize critical road safety projects for pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users, and motorists.

During the winter of 2025, the Summit County SS4A project team collected over 1,000 touchpoints of community input through various engagement efforts, both online and in-person. This feedback offered valuable insights into both the types and locations of safety concerns most important to the Summit County community.

Geographically, safety-related comments were most heavily concentrated in the incorporated areas of Summit County, particularly in and around Breckenridge and Frisco, indicating a need for focused attention in these high-traffic zones.

The most frequently cited issue was speeding, which emerged as the top safety concern across the region. Lack of or inadequate bikeways, poor pedestrian infrastructure, distracted drivers, and poor roadway maintenance were also seen as the biggest challenges to safety in the County.

Based on these comments, the crash history, and safety risk, specific locations were identified to target these safety concerns.

Our Recommendations

In response to this community input, the project team has drafted a series of recommendations aimed at addressing safety concerns on multiple fronts. Descriptions of each of these recommendations can be seen by clicking the links below.

• Location-specific improvements targeted to areas with safety issues or areas at high risk for safety issues
• Countywide systemic strategies to improve transportation safety throughout Summit County
• Policy recommendations to inform long-term planning, maintenance, enforcement, and community engagement efforts.

The Safe Streets and Roads for All Planning Grant is a grant established by the Federal Highway Administration to prevent roadway deaths and serious injuries. SS4A Action Plans identify the most significant roadway safety concerns in a community and develops projects and strategies to address these roadway safety issues. Since 2022, SS4A has provided $2.9 billion in Federal funding to over 1,600 communities across the country. SS4A grants are focused on improving roadway safety for all users by reducing and eliminating serious-injury and fatal crashes. Communities with SS4A Action Plans are eligible for SS4A Implementation Grant funding to put these ideas into practice. The Safe Systems approach of SS4A emphasizes redundant systems that account for mistakes.

Through the processes of analysis and community engagement, the SS4A Action Plan will identify policy recommendations and projects to support a safe transportation network for Summit County into the future.

Between 2019 and 2023, 19 people were killed on Summit County’s roads, and an additional 122 were seriously injured. The goal for this project is to develop an action plan that will bring these numbers down to zero.

The final SS4A Action Plan for Summit County will result in the following core outcomes:

• A Comprehensive Traffic Safety Analysis that identifies common severe crash types and locations, with particular focus on vulnerable road users.
• A High-Risk Network (HRN) that maps the streets in Summit County with the highest risk for fatalities and severe injuries.
• Public and Stakeholder Engagement that captures the perceived safety issues of the community and ensures action items correspond with local needs.
• An Equity Index to identify and prioritize historically marginalized communities.
• A Toolbox of System Safety Interventions so the county can systemically address the most common crash types.
  
• A Public-Facing Dashboard to track progress and convey data.
  

This project kicked off in November 2024. A final plan is anticipated by November 2025, with implementation beginning in 2026. There will be opportunities for community engagement around the plan during two primary touchpoints: January 2025 and July 2025.