CDOT to install concrete barriers on Santa Fe

A Colorado Department of Transportation project will soon make part of Santa Fe Drive safer.

A project to install concrete Type 7 barriers, also known as “Jersey” barriers, between the north and southbound lanes is scheduled to begin this summer, according to Nashat Sawaged, a professional engineer with CDOT.

The barriers will be installed in the 50-miles-per-hour section of road from Aspen Grove Way to Vinewood Street and will help prevent head-on collisions. There are currently concrete barriers separating lanes on much of Santa Fe north of Littleton to Denver.

The project is scheduled to begin in late June or early July.

City of Littleton Traffic Analyst Tim Weaver said that stretch of Santa Fe has been prone to head-on collisions in the past.

“There were four or five fatals in the late ’90s,” Weaver said. “It was enough of a concern that we brought it up to CDOT and they said you’re right, but at the time they didn’t have funding.”

In 2003, the city put in rumble strips and a painted median as safety measures, which helped reduce the number of accidents, Weaver said. But the concrete barriers will a do a better job of preventing head-on collisions on Santa Fe, like the one near Aspen Grove that sent at least one person to the hospital and tied up afternoon traffic on March 30.

“Absolutely, a physical barrier would have prevented this accident,” said Lt. Trent Cooper of the Littleton Police Department.