The Boulder City Council heard an update Thursday on the city’s plan for the next five years as part of its Vision Zero street safety work.

Vision Zero, adopted in 2014, is the city’s goal to eliminate fatalities and serious injuries caused by traffic crashes.

“The plan is really, in a lot of ways, a document that demonstrates the city’s commitment to this cause,” Devin Joslin, Boulder’s principal traffic engineer, said prior to the meeting.

In 2019, the city recorded 58 serious injury and three fatal crashes. Numbers dropped in 2020 during the pandemic’s travel restrictions to 37 serious injury crashes, while fatal crashed stayed at three. In 2021, there were 46 serious injury and four fatal crashes. In 2022, there were 48 serious injury crashes and one fatal crash.

The plan includes a five-year list of projects, as well as opportunities for federal, state, regional and local funding. The city’s Transportation Advisory Board unanimously endorsed the plan last month.

Actions include adding “no right turn on red” prohibitions at six intersections; completing capital projects that include protected bike lanes, protected intersections and setbacks at multi-use path crossings on four main streets; and upgrading traffic signal systems.

“This has come so far,” Mayor Aaron Brockett said. “There are so many improvements that have been made.”

To create the plan, the city identified a “high risk network” of 18 arterial street segments to prioritize for improvements. While the network represents just 7% of city streets, it accounts for 48% of fatal and serious injury crashes, 56% of bike crashes and 57% of pedestrian crashes, according to 2016 to 2020 data.

Seven crash types accounted for 62% of fatal and serious injury crashes in the network: red light running, left turns, right turns, right turns using slip lanes (right turn lanes that bypass the traffic signal with a triangular shaped island), right turns on red, multi-use path crossing, and pedestrian crashes while crossing the street.

“The updated plan really strove to incorporate a data driven approach,” Joslin said. “We looked really closely at the crashes occurring. The actions are really tailored to mitigate those seven crash types that occur across the system.”

Community engagement included reviewing the draft plan with the Center for People with Disabilities and the Community Cycles Advocacy Committee. People also responded to an online questionnaire, saying they want lower vehicles speeds; safer travel through more protection for those walking, biking and driving; and increased enforcement.

The council on Thursday also heard updates from Boulder police and the municipal courts, including information on the city’s problem crime locations and common crime patterns.

“We have very few offenders committing the majority of the crimes in Boulder,” Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold said. “They really cause great havoc in the community.”

Boulder Police Deputy Chief Stephen Redfearn listed three problem locations, based on high calls for service, that police are working to improve: The Circle K on Canyon Boulevard, the Boulder Public Library’s main branch on Arapahoe Avenue and the Millennium Harvest House hotel on 28th Street.

At the Circle K, he said, police were receiving “hundreds” more calls than other city convenience stores. Changes implemented by the store include securing alcohol and other items prone to theft, locking the restroom, improving lighting and cameras, and training staff members, he said.

Thanks to those changes, Redfearn said, calls are trending down and there have been no recent calls for serious crimes.

The Boulder Public Library, which closed in December after testing found high levels of methamphetamine in several public-facing restrooms, was added to the problem list in February.

Redfearn said the library, which has reopened, now has a Boulder police commander and two sergeants assigned to direct patrols. The police department’s drug task force also has provided training to staff members. The changes are helping, he said, with calls trending down, from 51 in August to 16 in February.

The Millennium, he said, also has been one of the top locations in the city for calls, though he noted most issues aren’t originating from the hotel’s transitional housing but instead from the regular rooms. Hotel management is working collaboratively with police, he said, including deactivating missing key cards and changing rental policies.

Calls also are trending down at the hotel, he said, though police recently arrested a man accused of firing off shots in his room.

Previous problem areas that have improved enough to only be monitored, he added, include RTD’s Table Mesa Park-n-Ride, which was a target for thieves, and the Depot Square apartments.