Safer Streets Littleton

Vertical Protection 

• Delineator: A flexible, plastic post that is between 2 to 4ft tall and bolted into the roadway or on top of a c-curb to provide a clear visual signal to drivers that a space is not meant for vehicles. Also called flex post or plastic bollard. 
• C-Curb: A durable, plastic curb that is raised on both sides and is bolted to the road. These are typically installed with delineators on top of them. 

Slow Speeds

• Bulb-out: Delineators and c-curb are used to extend the corner of the curb at an intersection out into the street and shorten the crossing distance for pedestrians while reducing vehicle turning speeds. 
• Chicane: A combination of two or more alternating bulb-outs placed mid-block to slow vehicle speeds by narrowing and realigning the roadway. 
• Pinch-point: Delineators and c-curb are used mid-block to extend the curb space and narrow the roadway to slow down vehicle traffic and provide a safer crossing on low-volume streets. 

Bicycle Facilities 

• Buffered bike lane: A conventional bike lane but with extra buffer space, often painted with diagonal lines, between the bike lane and the car lanes, providing more distance and safety for bicyclists. 
• Protected bike lane: A buffered bike lane that now has vertical protection installed in the buffer zone between the vehicle lane and the bike lane to signal to drivers.

Safe Pedestrian Crossings 

• Advanced pedestrian signs: Traffic signs are placed before crosswalks or pedestrian areas like school zones to alert drivers to the presence of pedestrians and encourage them to slow down and yield. 
• In-street crossing signs: Pedestrian traffic signs that are placed within the roadway at a crosswalk to increase driver awareness and visibility of pedestrians, often helping to slow traffic through crosswalks. 

Additional Strategies 

• Daylighting: Delineators and c-curb are used to restrict drivers from parking at intersections and adjacent to crosswalks to provide visibility for crossing pedestrians. - Short-term striping: Low-cost paint is used that fades in about 9 to 12 months. 

Why does the City install these treatments using white plastic posts? 

• Installing white plastic posts, or delineators, is a relatively quick and low-cost process. Posts can be installed and maintained by City staff, as well as temporarily removed if necessary due to emergencies, heavy snow, or other conditions. Just like a sewist would create a practice garment with a cheaper fabric to see how it fits and make adjustments before using expensive fabric, the city is first using low-cost, quick-to-install materials to test and refine the design and materials before seeking to make them permanent.

Existing traffic calming measures in Littleton are undergoing an evaluation, as the city’s planners and engineers look to optimize safety for all users.

Littleton’s public works team contracted with David Evans and Associates to conduct a citywide analysis of traffic calming devices installed over the last several decades and make recommendations for the future.

The Littleton Traffic Calming Measures Evaluation will include:  

• Data analysis regarding current speed limits, traffic volume, crash history, and speed data, to identify areas with higher crash rates and disparities between posted speed limits and observed speeds.  
• Assessment of existing infrastructure, including the effectiveness of Littleton’s current variety of traffic circles, speed humps, raised crossings, and other devices including those planned for pilot projects.  

The assessment will guide the creation of best practices for traffic calming measures, and recommendations for potential future traffic calming locations around the city. The findings will be incorporated into the Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program to help guide future resident-driven infrastructure improvements.

Littleton’s public works crews will continue improving pedestrian and bicyclist safety around schools in 2025 following the publication of the groundbreaking School Zone Safety Evaluation in 2024. 

Part of the Safer Streets Littleton initiative, the evaluation conducted by Y2K Engineering focuses on ensuring that all students can come and go to and from school safely, regardless of mode of transportation. By aligning with national best practices and adopted regulations, this evaluation seeks to establish consistent, safe environments across school zones in Littleton. The report is based on months of evaluation of school zones surrounding 12 schools within Littleton city limits. 

Y2K Engineering collaborated with Littleton Public Schools and evaluators from David Evans and Associates, who are conducting an evaluation of traffic-calming measures citywide. The process started with examining existing conditions including crosswalks, traffic control devices, street signs, school zone flashers, traffic-calming measures, schools’ start/end times, and enrollment. 

The next step was to observe operations and circulation during morning arrival and afternoon departure around each school, looking at vehicles, bicycles, pedestrian flow and crossing behavior, parking, queueing, staff involvement, visibility, and safety measures. The project team met with each school’s staff to share assessments and obtain input and feedback, then developed recommendations to standardize school zones throughout the city, applying industry best practices to create consistency for drivers and safer conditions for students and school staff. The project team met with each school again to share the findings of the evaluation and discuss the modifications recommended for immediate implementation at each school, along with potential long-term adjustments to circulation and operations. 

Immediate improvements included recommendations for crosswalk locations, school zone flasher placements, and enhanced school signage to increase visibility and awareness.

Longer-term recommendations were documented with the goal of improving safety and circulation patterns around the schools.

Long term recommendations include:

• Reducing turning conflicts by revising traffic circulation patterns.
• Providing buffers between bike lanes and vehicle lanes.
• Installing wider sidewalks in some locations.
• Increasing signals at certain crossings.
• Encouraging carpooling, bussing, walking, and biking.
• Increasing crossing guard presence.

Standardized treatments were also developed for school zone signage and crosswalks to ensure consistency across all schools.

The implementation process started in fall 2024 and will continue in 2025. City crews will be implementing the agreed-upon modifications one school at a time throughout the city until work at all 12 schools has been completed. Be patient and cautious as crews complete the rest of the elementary schools, charter schools, middle schools, and then high schools in 2025.

Read the School Zone Evaluation(PDF, 1MB)

In 2024, the Littleton Police Department (LPD) provided overtime opportunities for officers to conduct increased enforcement around schools. In 2025, LPD is working to fill two staffing positions on the traffic team, to conduct continued enforcement across the city. LPD looks forward to supporting local stakeholders, the city and our LPS partners as they implement additional bike safety initiatives.

As part of the Safer Streets Littleton initiative, 20 new crosswalks were striped near eight schools within the City of Littleton:  

• Centennial Academy of Fine Arts: 2  
• Damon Runyon Elementary School: 1  
• Euclid Middle School: 4  
• Goddard Middle School: 4  
• Little Raven Elementary School: 2  
• Littleton Preparatory Charter School: 1  
• Powell Middle School: 4  
• St. Mary’s Catholic School: 2  

These new crosswalks will promote safer crossings for students walking, biking, and rolling to school.

Littleton’s Public Works team installed 10 speed feedback signs at strategic locations around the city, in an effort to encourage safe driving and gather data for further bike and pedestrian safety projects.

The signs use radar and digital displays to notify drivers of their speed, which studies have shown is effective in reducing speeding and crashes. The signs also gather data about traffic volume and driver speeds. 

Crews installed signs along Elati Street, Windermere Street, and Powers Avenue, with most locations selected because of their proximity to school zones.

The data gathered by the signs will help inform “corridor studies” on Elati Street, Windermere Street, and Powers Avenue. Corridor studies examine a stretch of road holistically, helping planners and engineers understand needs for bike and pedestrian safety, traffic calming, parking, accessibility, and more. Existing signs may be moved periodically for future corridor studies.  

City crews installed hundreds of signs designating School Route corridors across Littleton in summer 2024. School Route wayfinding signage helps students walk or bike to school via routes determined to offer the best sidewalks, bike lanes, pedestrian crossings, and visibility.  

The City of Littleton began collaborating with Littleton Public Schools to update School Route wayfinding in 2019, but faced delays in obtaining grant funding to complete the project.  

With grant funding now available, the city is on track to complete installation of more than 800 signs in nearly 500 locations on just over 76 miles of school routes.

Families in Littleton Public Schools can map out walking and biking routes to school with the Littleton School Route Planner, a new online tool.

Thanks to a collaboration between the City of Littleton and Littleton Public Schools, families can use the mapping software to view their location, filter by school, and plan routes.

Users can also report barriers or problems in the public right-of-way that make walking or biking to school more difficult. Reports will be entered into the City of Littleton's Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program to be evaluated by city planners and engineers.

Click here to use the Littleton School Route Planner.