Colo. 93 drivers to see brighter nights

Drivers on a hazardous stretch of a notoriously dicey highway on the metro area’s west side now have a brighter ride, with new, inpavement LED lights to guide them at night.

The Colorado Department of Transportation recently turned on a series of polycarbonate plastic “pucks” that house small, energy-efficient LEDs — devices that CDOT correlates with a reduction in crashes — along a hilly, curvy, 3.7-mile stretch of Colorado 93 between West 64th Parkway and Colorado 72 just west of Arvada.

The lights, which cost between $15,000 and $25,000 per linear mile to install, delineate lanes and shoulders on the highway, which connects Boulder and Golden.

“This particular location was chosen due to it being a major commuting route and the dark, unlighted nature of the roadway,” CDOT operations director Angie Drumm said.

Traffic counts have increased on the road since Arvada’s Candelas neighborhood, which is still being built, took root north of Colorado 72 in the past few years. Colorado 93 is known for being subject to severe weather and intense winds blowing off the foothills.

Two years ago, Jefferson County funded the Highway 93 High Speed Mitigation Grant with nearly $100,000 to help with patrols on the highway. The lighting CDOT turned on this week lines the stretch of roadway where Jefferson County Sheriff Sgt. Dave Baldwin died in a January 2014 head-on crash.

CDOT uses the LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, on a 5mile segment of eastbound Interstate 70 between the Hidden Valley and Beaver Brook exits. The agency estimates there has been a 35 percent reduction in property damage crashes and a 50 percent drop in injury crashes since the technology went in.