Fort Collins, CO

Level: silver
Population: 156,480
Population Density: 2,819/sq. mi.
Pedestrian Plan
Program Website
Contact: Aaron Iverson
970-416-2643
aiverson@fcgov.com

Community Highlights

Fort Collins is designated as a Silver-level community due to its outstanding Safe Routes to School programming and pedestrian planning practices that include an excellent range of performance indicators. Highlights of Fort Collins’s application include:

  • Connectivity Standards within the community development codes, which stipulates that all street patterns must contribute to overall inter- and intra- development connectivity.
  • Fort Collins has a notable Neighborhood Traffic Mitigation Program which provides Education, Engineering and Enforcement Tools for residents, and focuses on vehicle speeds.
  • The city is in its fourth year of hosting Open Streets events, which has included tactical urbanism demonstration projects as well as programming activities by local organizations.
  • A Bus Stop Design Standards & Guidelines document assists city staff, developers, local partners and private property owners improve Street and Curb-side characteristics for transit stops.
  • Half of Fort Collins’ 41 elementary and middle schools have ongoing SRTS programs and the other half have special walk to school events. The City’s SRTS program has conducted comprehensive walkability audits at several schools in the local public school district, and it has developed Safe Routes maps for all schools in the district.
  • The Transportation Master Plan for Fort Collins includes a dedicated Pedestrian Plan. Both documents include recommendations for action steps and strategies to evaluate, monitor, and report progress on plan implementation over time. One tool the City is using to measure mobility options and the integration of transportation and land use is “20-minute accessibility.” This index measures the level of destination access within a 20-minute transportation shed.
  • The target mode share for walking and biking in Fort Collins is 20 percent!
  • Fort Collins uses a pedestrian level of service (LOS) based on five criteria: directness, continuity, street crossings (signalized only), visual interest and amenity, and security. The City is updating sections of the pedestrian LOS that relate to un-signalized and mid-block crossings.
  • Fort Collins engages the public through multiple methods for the planning process, including extensive use of boards and commissions, social media, City Council meetings, direct neighborhood outreach, citizen surveys, and project specific public meetings or open houses