Boulder must do more about traffic deaths
Another pedestrian death in Boulder. When will the city start enforcing traffic laws? I’ve been noticing a steady rise in motorists running red lights, a state of affairs that is particularly egregious at intersections where left turns lead to southbound U.S. 36 as commuters leave Boulder.
Heading north on Broadway on my bike, I routinely have to stop when I have the walk light to cross Baseline as three, or four, or five cars continue on through to eastbound Baseline after my light has turned green. That means the light for them turned red before any of them entered the intersection.
Months ago I wrote the city council wondering why there are no photo cameras at intersections like this one. (A similar condition exists at Table Mesa and Broadway.) Surprise surprise, no response! Next, I tried contacting the transportation department. An email query also received no response. Time went by and things continued to worsen.
Frustrated, I turned to the telephone. I was finally able to talk to a real person who connected me to the voicemail of a supervisor. I left a detailed message and later received an e-mail response.
Apparently, some traffic lights in the city are NOT owned by the city, but by Xcel. The same company whose inattention might have brought us the Marshall Fire. And apparently, the city can do nothing about these lights.
It’s not clear from the traffic engineers’ message to me that stop lights at the offending intersections are those owned by Xcel.
She did say that the city is “looking into these intersections.”
I hope that the supposed investigation can warrant some action before additional deaths occur.
— Beth Bennett, Boulder