Boulder County commissioners on Aug. 28 voted to adopt the countywide Vision 0 Action Plan, a data-driven roadmap intended to eliminate fatal and serious-injury traffic crashes.

The plan pulls together safety projects, data analysis and community priorities and will guide county work on high-injury road segments, speed management and partnerships with the Colorado Department of Transportation and neighboring jurisdictions. "Vision 0 is a commitment to eliminate fatal and serious injury traffic crashes," said Liviana Lewin, Vision 0 program manager with the county's Community Planning and Permitting, during the public hearing presentation.

The plan maps a "high-injury network" that spans about 7% of local roadway miles but accounts for 66% of the county's severe crashes, according to staff. It identifies five crash types that make up more than three-quarters of severe crashes, with single-vehicle run-off-the-road collisions the largest single category. Staff emphasized speed management as a key strategy: "We know that crashes with higher speeds yield more severe impacts, so speed management is another approach that is really important in our overall safety effort," Lewin said.

The plan combines targeted, location-specific interventions with systemwide measures such as enforcement, education and roadway design. Public Works staff told commissioners the county will pursue automated speed enforcement on several state highways and explore traffic-calming policies for neighborhood streets. "From a speed management perspective, I would say there's the traditional law enforcement'. There's the automated speed enforcement...and then there's speed management as it relates to infrastructure," said Mark Schisler, Public Works traffic engineer, noting physical measures such as speed humps and cushions are often most effective on low-speed local streets.

Community engagement was a major component of the plan, staff said: steering committee meetings, online surveys, interactive maps and translation into Spanish. Residents at the hearing urged more enforcement and local traffic-calming measures in their neighborhoods. "It's so dangerous," said Edward Clark, a 27-year Boulder County resident, describing regular speeding on his street and asking for additional speed-hump placement.

Commissioners and staff repeatedly cautioned that the plan identifies more projects than existing funding can cover and positions the document as a prioritization and implementation guide rather than a funded program. "A constant challenge in the world of transportation is having needs that far outweigh available funding," Lewin said. Staff noted ongoing grant work, including a regional Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant application, and the county's use of transportation sales tax funding for some projects.

After staff presentations and public comment, Commissioner Levy moved to adopt the Vision 0 Action Plan "as presented by staff today." The motion carried unanimously.

The county will next refine and prioritize actions, incorporate them into departmental work plans, continue grant-seeking and monitor project effectiveness. Staff said they will produce location-specific fact sheets for high-injury segments and report progress to the board on implementation.

The plan covers unincorporated Boulder County and the mountain towns of Jamestown, Nederland and Ward; several incorporated municipalities in the county are developing related Vision 0 plans and the county intends to coordinate across jurisdictions. The county described the adoption as the start of an implementation phase, not the conclusion of planning.