How safe is the intersection at Niwot Road and Highway 119?

October 12, 2022

Bruce Warren

One of the two traffic signals for the westbound lanes of Niwot Road was broken at Highway 119 in this photo from Oct. 5. The photo on the left shows red lights at both intersections looking west, but the red light in the northern lane is black and is not working. The photo on the right shows the lights at the western intersection have turned green, but the lights at the eastern intersection remain red, except for the malfunctioning light, which remains black. The broken light was reported to CDOT by Karen Copperberg Oct. 5 and was fixed the next day. Craig "Lefty" Harris was killed at the intersection on Sept. 29. The broken light was not mentioned as contributing to the accident by the CSP.

The tragic death of Niwot resident and Lefty's Pizza owner, Craig "Lefty" Harris, was a rare fatality at the intersection of Niwot Road and Highway 119. Accident data from the Colorado Department of Transportation shows one other fatality since 2005.

"Our safety performance metrics using 2018 - 2020 crash data show that the total frequency of crashes is consistent with similar intersection typ...

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