Transportation Issues

Secondary Data

Transportation Patterns

Most Weld County residents rely on their vehicle to get to work. Of the 86,210 workers in the County, 78.5% drove alone in their own vehicle to work; only 321 workers indicated that they took public transportation to work.36 In addition, 32.3% of Weld workers work outside of the county.

Traffic Fatalities

In 1998, Weld County was one of 13 Colorado counties that had a mortality rate for motor vehicle traffic-related deaths that was higher than the state rate37. As shown in Figure 53, most of the counties with high traffic death rates are rural counties across the State.

Figure 53. Age-adjusted motor vehicle traffic death rates by county of residence, 1996-1998

Figure 53.

Figure 54. Total Deaths and Crude Death Rates Due to Motor Vehicle Injuries in Weld County 1990-2003

Figure 54.

The crude death rates (per 100,000 population) and total death rates due to motor vehicle injuries have peaked in two years since 1990 (see Figure 54). These were in 1990 and again in 2001 when the total deaths were 40 and 60 respectively and the crude death rate was 30.3 and 30.9, respectively.

Community Transportation Issues- Survey Data

Key Informants and household respondents were asked if they experienced transportation issues in the community they live in, like inadequate public transportation, poor bike and pedestrian safety (inadequate bike lanes, sidewalks or crosswalks) and poor or unsafe traffic conditions (hazards or speeding) or congestion. Respondents indicated for each one if they believed it was not an issue, a minor issue, a moderate issue or a major issue for people in their community.

The majority of the key informants and the household respondents indicated that inadequate public transportation (60.6% and 41.7%, respectively) and poor or unsafe traffic conditions were moderate to major issues for the people in their communities (56.7% and 52.9%, respectively). See Table 27 and Figure 55.

Table 27. Number and Percent of Key Informants and Household Respondents (HH) Indicating That Community Transportation Issues Are an Issuea

Transportation Issues	Minor Issue		Moderate Issue		Major Issue		Don’t know
Transportation Issues	Key Inform %	HH %	Key Inform %	HH %	Key Inform %	HH %	Key Inform %	HH %
Inadequate public transportation	26.2	21.4	29.5	16.7	31.1	25.0	1.6	9.4
Poor bike or pedestrian safety (inadequate bike lanes, sidewalks or crosswalks)	39.3	22.9	26.2	20.1	11.5	21.8	0.0	5.0
Poor or unsafe traffic conditions (hazards or speeding ) or congestion	28.3	21.9	26.7	24.1	30.0	28.8	0.0	1.9

a Throughout this report, the percent of respondents who reported concerns were ‘’not an issue” were excluded from the charts and tables. The complete set of frequencies can be found in the Appendix.

Figure 55. Percent of Key Informants (KI) and Household Respondents (HH) Reporting Community Transportation Concerns as a Moderate or Major Issue

Figure 55.

Other transportation concerns mentioned by respondents included:

Transportation for Special Populations

Need more transportation for handicapped or elderly or others who don’t drive
Transportation of children from school to after school programs
Lack of affordable county transportation for elderly and disabled
The public transportation is o.k. but b/c not available on Sundays, seniors and others are without transportation and limited Regional and Community Transportation Service
Would love lite rail along I-25 through Denver to Tech Center
Mass transportation to Denver and DIA needed
Not enough routs or pick up times to adequately get around growing Greeley. Or having to walk a mile after getting off the bus to get to an appt.
No taxi service in Greeley…road construction tends to be lengthy and not done in an efficient manner
Lack of alternative traffic corridor esp. East to the front range
Lack of public transportation
Route system and sometimes the length of wait for the next bus
Poor city transportation

Road Conditions

Road and sidewalk repair needs to be done
No paving in Evans
All streets in Briggsdale are dirt/ gravel. We don’t have sidewalks or crosswalks.
Side streets are narrow sometimes hard to travel with cars parked on street Roads in West Greeley are not able to handle traffic i.e. 37th St. 47th Ave. 20th St. 10th St.
The roads in Greeley are pathetic. They continue to use cheap labor to do cheap work on the streets. The auto repair shops do quite well in Greeley, every intersection has a ¼ inch metal panel sticking out of the concrete. Constant construction, but no quality streets yet.
Deterioration of roads and highways is the direct result of limited funds at the state levels. The future of highway funding is bleak. Growth will add to the dilemma. Levels of funding alternatives need to be identified and implemented…The general public needs to become aware of the transportation issues

Speeding and Safety

No posted speeds or requested patrol. Unsafe intersection not addressed. Speeds along WCR 59 from H.S. into Keenesburg and especially in front of Elementary school way to fast. There is no enforcement at all unless Weld County sheriff is sitting right there
People driving through neighborhoods at high rates of speed- we have a lot of children playing
Speeding…no speed bumps on 26th ave ct and we need them…have little children in danger
Speeding is a definite problem
No signs for slowing, children at play, no speed bumps, lots of speeding cars= accidents
Some people drive through rural areas at an excessive rate of speed. They have no consideration fro farmers or ranchers who move equipment down the roadways. I have been “flipped off” and “cussed at” by drivers that think they own the road
Speeding is an issue, seems the cops are never around when people are speeding 37th Ave. in Evans is a prime example…30mph but people travel at 50mph.

Community Transportation Issues by Subgroups

Although inadequate community transportation was a moderate or major concern for over 30% of the respondents in all Weld communities, a high percentage of respondents in three Weld communities felt that inadequate transportation was either a moderate or minor issue. These were respondents in west central Weld (80%), central south Weld (77%), and south west Weld (71.8%).

Poor bike or pedestrian safety was also reported as a moderate or major concern for respondents in the following communities – Evans (45%), north Weld (47.1%), south west Weld (56.9%), central south Weld (60.7%), and west central Weld (67.2%). Poor and unsafe traffic was seen by more than 50% of respondents in five community areas as a moderate or minor issue. Those were respondents in Greeley (51%), south east Weld (57%), Evans (66.7%), and west central Weld (77.2%).

Household Transportation Issues- Survey Data

Respondents indicated if not being able to get transportation for a person with a disability or an elder, not being able to afford reliable transportation, and not being able to afford or access public transportation was not an issue, a minor, moderate or major issue. Results are presented in Table 28 and Figure 56.

Not being able to afford or access public transportation was reported as an issue for 28.4% of respondents,10.4% of whom indicated that it was a major issue. Twenty six percent of respondents indicated that not being able to afford reliable transportation was an issue. Not being able to get transportation for a person with a disability or elder was an issue for 18.2% of the households.

Table 28. Number and Percent of Household Respondents Indicating That Transportation Concerns Are Not an Issue, a Minor, Moderate, or Major in Their Household

Transportation Issues	Not an Issue		Minor Issue		Moderate Issue		Major Issue
Transportation Issues	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%
Not being able to get transportation for a person with a disability or an elder	301	81.8	26	7.1	22	6.0	19	5.2
Not being able to afford reliable transportation	270	73.2	44	11.9	30	8.1	25	6.8
Not being able to afford or access public transportation	262	71.6	41	11.2	25	6.8	38	10.4

Figure 56. Percent of Households Reporting Transportation Issues as a Minor, Moderate or Major Issue

Figure 56.

For focus group residents in rural areas of Weld County, lack of public transportation is a major concern and creates a barrier to access goods and services and to obtain employment. Rural residents stated they don’t have a handicap van or other types of shuttles found in many urban settings in Weld County. Rural residents must rely on private, individual transportation to go to jobs and to obtain services. Absent private transportation, individuals must rely on others or do without.

“The town’s kind of small so if I need to go somewhere I just walk. But if you get a job in Hudson or something, there’s not a place that you can go and take a shuttle or anything. I guess you could pay for a limousine.”

Based on the resources that many rural residents own in order to conduct their agricultural business, some rural residents suggested ATVs should be legalized for town and county road use. They stated that ATVs may be the only transportation some people have to get around rural areas of Weld County.

For focus groups In the urban are where public transportation was available, the services were appropriate and worked well for those who reported using the system.

“I have used it and it is very good. Now you have the opportunity to speak to someone in Spanish to know how to go and what routes to take.”
“I used to take the bus to school because I lived very far away. But it didn’t run very often and I had to get up very early to get on the bus. So, the system works but they should put in more routes.”

Household Transportation Issues by Subgroup

Difficulty with transportation issues was an issue among different categories of respondents. Not being able to afford or access public transportation was an issue for 62.1% of respondents in central south Weld, 37.2% of respondents in south west Weld, and approximately 30% or respondents in north Weld, west central Weld, south east Weld, and Evans. Difficulty with affording and accessing public transportation was reported by 41.5% of non-white1 respondents, 48.1% of respondents with incomes below $14,999, 40.8% of respondents with incomes between $15,000 - $34,999 and 24% of those with incomes between $35,000 - $49,999.

Not being able to get transportation for a person with a disability or an elder was an issue among those with incomes below $14,999 (30.2%) and those with incomes between $15,000-$34,999 (27.8%). Thirty one percent of non-whites and 12.9% of whites reported that not being able to get transportation for a person with a disability or elder was an issue.

1 Throughout this report non-whites were respondents who indicated they were either American Indian, Asian or Pacific Islander, or Hispanic and were grouped together for additional analyses (n=88).

Transportation Issues