Avon approves speed cameras in town’s busiest pedestrian areas

Drivers in Avon will soon need to slow their roll. The Avon Town Council on Tuesday approved the use of an automated ticketing system for speeding vehicles in certain areas of town.

The cameras are an additional step in the town’s quest to improve pedestrian safety.

“I’m not saying we’ve got a criminality issue. People just aren’t paying attention. They’re in a rush, et cetera,” said Avon Police Chief Greg Daly. “At the end of the day, we’re just trying to change behavior to the betterment of people living here.”

In 2023, the state legislature passed a law permitting local agencies to use automated vehicle identification system, or speed safety cameras, for speed regulation in town.

Keeping pedestrians safe in Avon

Avon has made pedestrian safety a priority for more than a decade. The town is currently in the middle of a $6 million project to install lighted pedestrian crossings and landscape medians in four locations along U.S. Highway 6 in and adjacent to town to make Highway 6 safer for pedestrians.

Support Local Journalism

Donate

The speed cameras are “another tool” to keep pedestrians safe, Daly said.

“We’re a pedestrian-friendly town. We’ve worked on that as a town for many, many years,” Daly said. “This is just one of the additional tools to make pedestrians safer.”

The Town Council approved four locations in town to pitch to CDOT as AVIS corridors: Avon Road between roundabouts four and five (the south end of the road), Highway 6 between Stonebridge Drive and Avon Road, West Beaver Creek Boulevard between Lake Steet and Millies Lane and Nottingham Road between Avon Road and Metcalf Road.

CDOT and Colorado State Patrol will have the final approval over the locations.

“We have had a number of vehicle versus pedestrian accidents in various locations in town, but the four proposed locations we have more concern about than others,” Daly said. “We are proposing these based on our knowledge, our day-to-day interactions with our community of people complaining about certain sections.”

Avon Road saw 74 accidents, 167 citations and 874 warnings between 2020 and 2024, according to Avon Police Department data. A speed study conducted in these areas from July 29 through Aug. 4 showed that on Avon Road, which has a speed limit of 25 miles per hour, more than 6,200 northbound vehicles (11 percent of total documented vehicles) exceeded 35 miles per hour.

“This is six days in July. This is not six days in January, February, March, when we can have double the figures of people going up and down those streets,” Daly said.

Avon Road is too narrow to easily accommodate a police vehicle, and with 22,000 service calls per year, the Avon Police Department does not have enough officers to have one perpetually posted in that location, making the cameras the best way to issue traffic citations.

“This is just one of the tools, but it’s a tool that can have quite a significant impact,” Daly said.

Speed safety corridors have been implemented in Denver, Boulder, Longmont, Fort Collins and Aurora. Closer to Avon, Vail and Glenwood Springs both recently received approval from CDOT to implement speed safety cameras, and are in the installation phase.

Council approves speed cameras after extended discussion

Avon resident Charlie Sherwood raised concerns that the program would create an excessive administrative burden on the Avon Police Department if many tickets are issued. While the camera system uses AI to capture license plate numbers and the speed of each car, a person at the Avon Police Department is required to review and confirm all ticket-issuing footage.

“Based upon some of these numbers, it’s going to be a disaster unless we understand a little bit more about what’s going on,” Sherwood said.

“We have no specific idea of how many citations will be issued on a daily basis until we get up and running,” Daly said.

Mayor Tamra Nottingham Underwood asked to be notified quickly if Avon staff are spending too much time reviewing footage.

If the police department receives too many citations to review, it would need to hire an additional staff member. “But if we are getting that level of citations, there is revenue there to hire that person,” Daly said.

Council member Lindsay Hardy said she agreed with the general idea of the speed cameras but questioned the quantity. “I think that we’re potentially doing too many, and I think the Highway 6 one is stepping a little too far out there for me,” Hardy said.

Hardy raised concerns about the cameras’ impact on tourism in Avon.

“All in one day, you could potentially get four tickets, and what is that doing to the tourists who are visiting?” she said. “I’ve heard from other locals who were over by three minutes at Hoffmann Properties and they said they will absolutely never go back to that one establishment again.”

Hardy also cited concerns about adding the speed cameras as an additional governmental expense on top of Avon’s many other traffic calming projects that are currently under construction.

“I’m just showing a concern that we’re doing a lot all at once,” Hardy said.

Council member Chico Thuon agreed with Hardy that the changes would be difficult, but said they were important to build consistent messaging to the public to slow their speed in Avon.

“It’s that one person that we’ll save,” Thuon said.

“I see it more as reinforcing,” said Avon town manager Eric Heil. “I’m pretty confident that people will change their behavior pretty quick if they know it’s automatic.”

The council considered adding a sunset clause to the ordinance, but decided not to because the council will review the success of the project at the end of the initial 12-month contract period.

The plan for implementation

Like Vail, Avon will lease its cameras from the Illinois-based Dacra Tech at a rate of $2,000 per camera per month. The initial contract will last 12 months.

Tickets issued by the speed cameras will cost $40, with $12 going to the vendor.

Avon plans to order five cameras from Dacra. The exact locations for the cameras within the four AVIS corridors will be determined by town staff.

The council will receive an update from town staff in November or December on the camera implementation process.

“If this is a successful program, we make zero money on this program. If it’s successful, we have no one hurt. If it’s successful, no one dies,” said Rich Carroll, Avon mayor pro tem.