FASTER Safety Mitigation Program
On March 2, 2009, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter signed SB09-108 into law. The Funding Advancement for Surface Transportation and Economic Recovery (FASTER) provides needed funds to address safety issues on Colorado roadways. As directed by the Colorado Transportation Commission, CDOT is responsible for implementing road safety projects on state highways using funds credited to the Highway User Tax Fund and allocated to the State Highway Fund. CDOT receives roughly 60% of the FASTER fines, fees, and surcharges that are maintained in the Highway User Tax Fund.
The Transportation Commission directed CDOT to deliver a FASTER program, which is divided into the bridge, transit and safety. Safety is subdivided into the asset management use of FASTER safety funds and the FASTER Safety Mitigation (FSM) program. The FSM program is focused on mitigating documented safety hazards and preventing future crashes with specific goals of reducing highway crashes and the severity of highway crashes.
It is CDOT’s objective to maximize crash reduction within the limitations of available budgets by making road safety improvements at locations where it does the most good or prevents the most crashes. FSM funds are eligible for use with all modes of travel during all phases of design and construction of accepted road safety projects; however, construction of infrastructure improvements is required. Typically, FSM funding requests are made via an application submitted by one of CDOT's Engineering Regions and evaluated by CDOT HQ for program eligibility and technical compatibility with program goals. CDOT Regional planners and engineering staff work with local partners to analyze available data and determine effective safety projects for each Region.
FSM planning estimates are established for each CDOT region using a formula based on an economic valuation of regional crash experience. The current regional planning distribution through Fiscal Year 2026 are:
- Region 1: 34.24%
- Region 2: 18.82%
- Region 3: 12.78%
- Region 4: 25.24%
- Region 5: 8.92%
CDOT FSM Application Form (Microsoft Word) (for CDOT use only)
