US 287 - Ft Collins to Laramie

[andy3175]

Safety continues to be an issue for travelers between Ft Collins and Laramie as noted in this article from the Ft Collins Coloradan newspaper about accident rates along US 287, the primary route between these two cities:

http://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/2015/04/17/fatal-crashes-larimer-county/25940125/

As high-speed crashes along Interstate 25 in Northern Colorado continue to grab headlines, drivers in Larimer County are more likely to be involved in a fatal crash while traveling on U.S. Highway 287.

The county has seen 80 fatal crashes in the last decade along area highways, and two more have been added this year. Nearly half from the last decade happened on U.S. 287.

Thirty-six fatal crashes happened on the 64 miles of the highway in Larimer County between July 2004 to July 2014, Colorado Department of Transportation data show. Of those 36, 26 have happened between LaPorte and Wyoming. Overall, that's more than the 23 fatal crashes that happened on the 39 miles of I-25 through the county.

Since 2003, CDOT has invested more than $14 million on north U.S. 287, most of which have been safety improvements like signs, lights and rumble strips. Whenever a new project comes up, Crow said a safety assessment is done first.

In between 2004 and 2005, CDOT spent more than $6.8 million on improvements on U.S. 287 between Livermore and Wyoming. In that time, there were 10 deaths. The next year, there was one.

Those improvements guard rails in five sections, more than 75,000 inches of rumble strips and more than 1,200 gallons of pavement paint.

To help prevent head-on collisions along I-25 and some parts of U.S. 287, CDOT uses medians and in some places cable wires, a fence of four cables that Crow said absorbs the energy of crashing vehicles. The vehicles often sustain heavy damage, but Crow said properly restrained passengers are rarely seriously injured in a single-vehicle crash with the wires.

Interestingly, a 2014 article from the Casper Star Tribune discusses safety improvements along US 287 in Wyoming.

http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/no-fatalities-in-months-on-wyoming-stretch-of-u-s/article_b9e60a0b-ecd6-5794-802c-c20059c7d96e.html

A stretch of highway from Laramie to the Colorado state line recently went 21 months without a fatal crash, a safety milestone that takes on added significance given the roadway's dangerous history.

From July 24, 2012, to April 27, 2014, the roughly 23.5-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 287 running south of Laramie to the Colorado border saw no fatal crashes, according to the Wyoming Highway Patrol.

The recent streak, lasting 644 days, came about six years after a previous zero-death streak of 774 days, lasting from Nov. 21, 2003, to Jan. 3, 2006, according to Wyoming Department of Transportation statistics.

The Wyoming stretch of U.S. Highway 287 was the location of 166 property damage crashes, 99 injuries and eight deaths from 2009 to June 2014.

Between January 1995 and April 2014, the roadway saw 30 fatal crashes.

Among those was the Sept. 16, 2001, wreck that was called one of Wyoming's worst transportation tragedies in decades. In that crash, eight University of Wyoming cross-country runners were killed by a drunk driver in a head-on collision.

The Laramie trooper division decided to target U.S. Highway 287 as a "strategic highway" because of the high number of fatal crashes, said Lt. Tom Pritchard of the Wyoming Highway Patrol. ...

Starting in 2011, Pritchard increased the presence of troopers along the roadway. In 2012, the trooper division spent 3,023 hours patrolling the highway, issuing about 4,745 citations for speeding, lack of seat belt use, unsafe passing and impaired driving, according to the news release. ...

The section of road from milepost 419 to the Colorado border was responsible for the majority of crashes from 2009 to June 2014, according to WYDOT statistics.

During that time period, 78 of the 166 property damage crashes on Wyoming's portion of U.S. Highway 287 occurred on that stretch of the roadway, according to WYDOT data. Those crashes accounted for 53 injuries and five deaths.

The Wyoming Department of Transportation plans to widen and divide that portion of the roadway this year and next, said Pat Persson, WYDOT district engineer.

In July 2010, WYDOT completed a roughly 3.9-mile project that widened the highway from mile 415.8 to 419.72, which is about 1.5 miles north of Tie Siding south to Pumpkin Vine.

The contract bid price to make that portion of the road four lanes and separate oncoming traffic with a divider was nearly $9.2 million.

The second project stretches 6.1 miles from mile post 419.9 to the Colorado border. The project is currently under contract with a bid price of about $17.9 million. WYDOT plans to finish the project in 2015, with the exception of the final chip seal.