Statewide Active Transportation Plan

Update in Progress!

In Spring of 2024, CDOT kicked off an update to its Statewide Active Transportation Plan. Read more to learn more about the plan, the update process, and how you can get involved.

Active Transportation Plan Purpose

A mother and her two children ride their bikes along a tree-lined neighborhood street. Photo courtesy of Bicycle Colorado.

The CDOT Statewide Active Transportation Plan sets the stage for enhancing biking and walking throughout Colorado and embraces statewide momentum around active transportation investment with goals, policy recommendations, interagency collaboration, and a comprehensive process for evaluating and prioritizing projects which will improve safety, equity, mobility, connectivity, and sustainability across our transportation system.

Active Transportation Plan Process

This planning process will update and strengthen the 2012 Statewide Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan over the next year, informed by key developments in recent years related to active transportation. Through 2024 and the spring of 2025, multiple CDOT departments will be collaborating with an array of stakeholder groups and the public to craft a refined vision & goals for active transportation in Colorado, supported by a robust analysis tool which will inform prioritization and implementation of active transportation projects. Active Transportation Plan Process

What is Active Transportation?

Active transportation is any human-scale and typically human-powered mode of transportation, such as walking, running, bicycling, roller blading, or using an electric bicycle, kick scooter or electric scooter, skateboard, wheelchair, or other personal assistive mobility device.

Accomplishments since 2012

CDOT adopted its first Statewide Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan in October 2012. In the years since its adoption, CDOT and its agency partners have made substantial progress in advancing towards statewide active transportation goals and supporting local investment in active transportation projects. Key accomplishments have included:

Detailed assessments of bicycle and pedestrian safety in CDOT Region 1 and CDOT Region 4
Establishment of the Revitalizing Main Streets and Multimodal Options Fund grant programs
Update to the Statewide Bicycling Manual
Expansion of the Safe Routes to School grant program
Development of the Colorado Downtown Streets guide
Development of the Colorado Bicycling Map
Development and analysis of the High Demand Bicycle Corridors network
Update to Chapter 13 – Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities of the CDOT Roadway Design Guide
Completion of the first-ever Vulnerable Road User Safety Assessment, a high-level plan that considers both safety and equity across the roadway system and uses a Safe System Approach (SSA) as its guiding principle

Why Invest in Active Transportation?

Bicyclists and pedestrians are highly overrepresented in serious crashes compared to all crashes – traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries involving vulnerable road users (bicyclist and pedestrians) in Colorado have have surged by 96% over the past decade, with a 16% increase between 2022 and 2023, resulting in hundreds of serious injuries and fatalities annually
Greater adoption of zero-emission travel modes like biking, walking, and rolling is a key strategy in achieving the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions as outlined in the state’s GHG Pollution Reduction Roadmap and CDOT’s GHG Planning Standard
Active transportation is a major driver of economic activity locally and statewide – it contributes hundreds of millions of dollars annually to our economy
Improvements to the active transportation network can help address health and safety inequities by providing safe and affordable transportation options in communities that have historically been marginalized in transportation planning efforts
Robust active transportation networks help people incorporate physical activity into their daily lives by allowing them to walk, bike, or roll to get where they need to go

Get Involved!

CDOT is conducting an initial survey which will help inform the goals and priorities of the Active Transportation Plan. The survey should take about 5-10 minutes and asks about your walking and bicycling habits, what types of pedestrian and bicycling facilities you prefer (i.e. sidewalks, shared use paths, bike lanes), what barriers you encounter to walking and biking, and what would encourage you to walk or bike more.

The survey closed on September 13, 2024. Stay tuned to see the results and for more opportunities to get involved!