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Ground Travel

Environmental Indicators

Ground travel represents motorized transportation within Fort Collins city limits. Ground transportation emissions account for about 20% of the community’s carbon inventory. These emissions occur when vehicles burn gasoline and diesel, both fossil fuels. As public transit, biking, and walking become more feasible for day to day needs, and alternative fuel vehicles, such as electric vehicles, replace traditional vehicles, these emissions will decline, helping the community reach its climate action goals.

Ground Travel Emissions

Ground Travel Measures

The following measures are categorized as direct or indirect. Direct measures track data used to calculate carbon emissions. Indirect measures show community trends that may impact carbon emissions but are not directly tied to carbon calculations. Some measures are not evaluated against a target and are simply informational. This is indicated when the status bar is gray instead of green, yellow, or red.

Measures

Actual

Target

Results
Direct Measures
Vehicle Miles Traveled (miles/year)
Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) is one indicator used to calculate carbon emissions from ground travel – 23% of community emissions in 2020. As long as the majority of vehicles on the road run on fossil fuels, this measure will track overall vehicle emissions trends. VMT is predicted to continue increasing as the Fort Collins population grows. The reduction in VMT in 2020 was due to COVID-19 and resulting Stay-at-Home orders, and that reduction is not expected to become a trend in following years. Growth in VMT can have positive, negative, or neutral impacts on emissions depending on vehicle type. VMT data is modeled by the Northern Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization (NFRMPO).
1,195,860,176N/A2021
Indirect Measures
Cumulative Bus Rides (in thousands)
This measure tracks the total number of bus rides (also known as passenger boardings) on Transfort, Fort Collins’ public transportation service. Increased bus ridership may mean that people are leaving their cars at home, helping reduce emissions. The target for this metric is to see a 5% increase in fixed route ridership over the previous year. The graph shows bus rides each quarter in thousands. Data is supplied by Transfort.
Q4 2021
Percent of People Commuting by Transportation Type
This metric estimates the percentage of people who commute (to work or school) by a particular type of transportation such as car, bike, by foot, etc. Data comes out once per year from the American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census.
N/AN/A2020
City-wide sidewalk network (square feet)
This is a measure of the number of sidewalks constructed or repaired to improve pedestrian connectivity citywide to eliminate hazards and remove obstacles. An increase in sidewalk square footage is a positive trend. With current funding levels, the City aims to complete about 45 projects a year or about five miles of additional sidewalks. Data is provided by the City of Fort Collins.
119,79135,000Q4 2021
Percent Arterial Bike Network Crossings Completed
This measures arterial bike crossing improvements implemented since the adoption of the 2014 Bicycle Master Plan. Arterial bike crossings are areas where a bicycle route crosses a major street. Crossing at such intersections can be uncomfortable and a barrier to bicycle travel. Improvements include things like widened ramps and waiting areas, overhead signals, pavement markings and signage to guide bicyclists. Improving bike crossings helps people bike safely, encouraging more ridership thus indirectly decreasing emissions. An increase in bike crossing improvements is a positive trend. Data is supplied by the City of Fort Collins.
2628Q4 2021

Ground Travel Initiatives

Initiatives are projects, programs, and positions that the Fort Collins City Council has funded through its budgeting process. Those shown here have a direct impact on ground travel emissions.

Dec-21
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Initiative

Status

Transit System Expansion

This initiative aims to provide a transit network that supports the City's existing and planned land use pattern and allows transit to be a viable community transportation option.  In order to meet GHG reduction targets, Vehicle Miles Travelled (VMT) must be reduced.  This initiative shifts trips that would otherwise be taken by cars so that they are taken by transit.


Last updated:

  • Description - July 2019
  • Status - July 2019


Dec-21
Expand Congestion Management System

Congestion management focuses on policies, projects, and initiatives that improve the flow of traffic and result in reductions in idling and GHG emissions.  Examples include measures such as intersection capacity improvements, turn lanes, signal timing changes (including adaptive signal timing), and policies for incident management, work zones etc.  We have a bluetooth data system that collects vehicular travel times through the City.  The travel times directly correlate to emissions - as travel times go up, GHG emissions go up, and vice versa.  

Since 2014, the overall population has increased by 10%.  The average travel times across the City have decreased by 3%.  This improvement is attributed to adaptive signal timing, and various congestion mitigation projects, including a number of both major and minor intersection projects. 


Last updated:

  • Description - July 2019
  • Status - July 2019
Dec-21
Improve Pedestrian Network

This initiative aims to improve pedestrian improvements city wide to eliminate hazards and remove obstacles along with improvements directly related to school zones and Transfort stops. This includes the development and implementation of enhanced pedestrian programming and incentives.

A  budget offer was submitted for the 2019-2020 process, and it was unfunded.  Staff continue to monitor grant and other funding opportunities for a sustainable source; however, the ongoing requirements of the program make for a difficult match to one-time funding.  


Last updated:

  • Description - July 2019
  • Status - July 2019


Dec-21
Bicycle Network and Ridership Improvements

This initiative aims to improve conditions for bicycling and increase bicycling as a mode of transportation.  In order to meet GHG reduction targets, Vehicle Miles Travelled (VMT) must be reduced.  This initiative shifts trips that would otherwise be taken by cars so that they are taken by bicycle.  


Last updated:

  • Description - July 2019
  • Status -  July 2019


Dec-21
Electric Vehicle Readiness Roadmap

This initiative is focused on reducing the carbon emissions and resulting local air quality impacts of vehicles used in the community. The Electric Vehicle Readiness Roadmap was completed in October 2018. Currently, the project is in the implementation phase. The implementation working group met in April and June of 2019, and is set to meet in September and December as well to present on the progress they have made on implementing assigned strategies.

In May of 2019, Northern Colorado Clean Cities awarded the City of Fort Collins “2018 Leading Public Fleet of the Year” with over 475,000 gallons of gasoline equivalent reduced because of our electric fleet vehicles. The City was also recognized as #3 in the nation for the 2018 Green Fleet Awards (the100bestfleets.com).


Last updated:

  • Description - July 2019
  • Status - July 2019


Dec-21
Land Use Patterns

This initiative included the development of a new City Plan, Transportation Master Plan, and Transit Master Plan that integrated land use and transportation, identified and addressed critical community issues, and prepared for the expected build-out of the Fort Collins Growth Management Area over the next 15-20 years. Completed in early 2019, the plans identify land-use and transportation policies and implementation strategies necessary to help achieve the City’s ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets. 

Last updated:

  • Description - July 2019
  • Status - July 2019


Dec-21
Travel Behavior Surveys

This initiative included the development of a community-wide travel behavior survey that collected comprehensive and accurate data on resident and employee multimodal travel. The survey was administered in 2017. A follow-up survey was conducted in 2018 to target a select group of people employed in or near Fort Collins regarding their transportation needs and behavior, and will help to inform City transportation planning regarding commuters. 

Establishing this initiative has helped the City know if transportation projects and programs are having the desired impacts and will support data analysis of key transportation indicators such as Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT), which is a critical input for greenhouse gas calculations. The data will provide a more comprehensive way of tracking mode shift, which the City uses in reporting metrics.


Last updated:

  • Description - July 2019
  • Status - July 2019


Dec-21
Trip Reduction Program

This initiative implements travel demand management strategies to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT).  Reducing demand on roads and parking infrastructure is a proven strategy for reducing congestion.  Trip reduction strategies apply a number of approaches involving coordination across departments, including:

  • Parking management strategies
  • Improved access to and coordination of transportation options like biking, walking, transit, and ride share
  • Incentive programming for telework and flex schedules
  • Technology applications including programming for mobile devices and intelligent transportation systems


Last updated:

  • Description - July 2019
  • Status - July 2019
Dec-21
Municipal Compressed Natural Gas Fueling Station

This offer constructed a Natural Gas Fueling Site at the Streets Facility located at 625 9th Street. This site is used to fuel  compressed Natural Gas (CNG) City vehicles, and also as a redundant system for Transfort buses. Since November 2017, this site has dispensed 70,000 gallons of compressed Natural Gas (40,000 in 2018). The City of Fort Collins has made the site available to Larimer County so that they can also fuel their vehicles. By completing the construction of this fuel facility, it ensures that if we have a catastrophic failure at the Transfort site, our fleet of buses will still be able to fuel.

Last updated:

  • Description - July 2019
  • Status - July 2019


Dec-21

Ground Travel Links

Click here to go to the Transfort homepage.

Click here to go to the FC Bikes homepage.

Click here to go to the Fort Collins Pedestrian Program homepage.

Click here to go to learn about the Fort Collins EV Readiness Roadmap.