New traffic light rules went into effect last week at one Commerce City intersection after a shuttle bus crash earlier this month killed one person and sent nearly a dozen others to the hospital.
As of July 25, drivers can only turn left at the intersection of Tower Road and East 81st Avenue when they have a green arrow, city officials announced on social media. Before, drivers were allowed to turn on a flashing yellow.
City officials said the change was already in the works as part of a larger safety effort, but staff prioritized it after the recent shuttle bus crash.
“The goal of the change is to remove human error, including misjudging the speed of oncoming traffic, from those left turn movements,” city spokesperson Travis Huntington said in an emailed statement to The Denver Post. “This is based on an engineering judgement and not necessarily related to a history of serious crashes at any particular location.”
Huntington said there were zero fatal crashes at that intersection between 2019 and 2023, but added that “one fatal crash on our roads is one too many.”
Just over 30 crashes were reported at the intersection during that time frame, and most of them were noninjury crashes, according to data from the city.
Staff monitored the location through the weekend after the light change was implemented and found it did not cause additional congestion at the intersection, Huntington said.
More intersections throughout Commerce City can expect to see the same changes go into effect in the coming weeks.
For now, that includes Tower Road at East 83rd and East 88th avenues, and where East 104th Avenue meets Colorado 2 and Chambers Road, city officials said.
The green-arrow-only turns are part of Commerce City’s new safety action plan, which focuses on reducing fatal and injury crashes across the city, according to Huntington.
That plan is still being drafted and is scheduled to go before the city council for adoption in September, but city officials are taking early action to improve safety at these intersections where the current lights “presented cause for concern,” he said.
As the lights are implemented, staff will decide if the green-arrow-only turns will be added to more intersections, Huntington said.
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