The roundabout in the middle of Highway 9 north of Breckenridge is ripe for safety upgrades, but only if local government chips in.
CDOT met with county commissioners yesterday to review multiple road projects. Among them was the Fairview roundabout, where newly installed traffic cameras have caught multiple close calls with vehicles caught off-guard by a ton of new foot traffic. Breck’s latest affordable housing project, Vista Verde II, is just to the west.
Earlier this summer the sheriff’s office installed temporary roadside signs, reminding drivers to slow down as they go from 50 to 35 miles per hour approaching the roundabout.
One CDOT engineer calls this “low-hanging fruit,” telling the county more substantial upgrades are possible with local support. The engineer suggested crosswalk improvements for pedestrians and updated “entry angles” for vehicles. CDOT knows more about roundabouts these days. Any work it does on Fairview will be guided by the latest and greatest.
Seemingly simple upgrades will not be cheap. Flashing pedestrian signs, like those at another dangerous intersection, on U.S. Highway 6 in Keystone, can cost upwards of $625,000.
The Fairview roundabout, installed in 2014, was one of the first in Summit. It has a long history of accidents and close calls, including a state patrol trooper seriously injured in 2023 when he barreled into the roundabout at highway speeds. The nearby Summit Stage bus stop has been hit multiple times, and on snowy mornings the “monthly roundabout send” is common enough for its own thread on Reddit.