Denver's Ten Most Dangerous Intersections

This year's list of the ten intersections that are seeing the most accidents in Denver right now is much different from the edition published in June 2018.

Although the most dangerous intersection remains the same, thanks to a jaw-slackening 93 crashes since the beginning of 2017, only two others reappear. The shifts illustrate evolving traffic patterns in the metro area that have led to increasing risks on several major corridors, with one stretch along West Alameda Avenue witnessing more than 100 crackups in fewer than eighteen months.

The information was compiled by the Denver Police Department at our request, as part of our continuing coverage of mobility in the Mile High City.

For a March 2017 roundup, the DPD focused on highway-exit crashes. But since our November 2017 followup, the department number-crunchers have looked at surface streets, where the impact of rampant growth and development — metro Denver's population is up 388,000 over the past eight years — has presented a challenge to traffic engineers trying to prevent complete gridlock.

The data below is broken into three major categories: accidents between January 1 and June 1 of 2019, crashes catalogued during 2018 as a whole, and the combined sum, which we're using for ranking purposes. Additionally, entries for the three intersections that also landed on last year's list include their 2017 totals.

A trio of Alameda intersections pop up on the latest roster, and two of them — West Alameda at South Federal  Boulevard and West Alameda at Santa Fe Drive — are only about a mile and a half apart. But coming even closer are two of the three Colfax Avenue intersections in the accident top ten. The distance between West Colfax at Kalamath Street and West Colfax at Speer Boulevard is only about a tenth of a mile, but a whopping ninety accidents combined have happened at those intersections since the start of 2018.

Count down the list below — and be careful out there.

click to enlarge

Near North Downing at East Colfax.

Google Maps

Number 10: Downing Street at East Colfax Avenue
2018 ranking: Not listed

January 1-June 1, 2019 accidents: 16
January 1-December 31, 2018 accidents: 17
Combined total: 33

Number 9: Central Park Boulevard at East Martin Luther King Boulevard
2018 ranking: Not listed

January 1-June 1, 2019 accidents: 14
January 1-December 31, 2018 accidents: 20
Combined total: 34

Number 8: South Colorado Boulevard at East Alameda Avenue
2018 ranking: Not listed

January 1-June 1, 2019 accidents: 15
January 1-December 31, 2018 accidents: 21
Combined total: 36

Number 7: West Colfax Avenue at Kalamath Street
2018 ranking: Not listed

January 1-June 1, 2019 accidents: 14
January 1-December 31, 2018 accidents: 24
Combined total: 38

Number 5 (tie): Speer Boulevard at Auraria Parkway
2018 ranking: Number 5

January 1-June 1, 2019 accidents: 14
January 1-December 31, 2018 accidents: 30
Combined total: 44 (2017 total: 32)

Number 5 (tie): Quebec Street at East 36th Avenue
2018 ranking: Not listed

January 1-June 1, 2019 accidents: 15
January 1-December 31, 2018 accidents: 29
Combined total: 44

Number 3 (tie): West Alameda Avenue at South Federal Boulevard
2018 ranking: Not listed

January 1-June 1, 2019 accidents: 14
January 1-December 31, 2018 accidents: 33
Combined total: 47

Number 3 (tie): West Evans Avenue at South Federal Boulevard
2018 ranking: Number 7

January 1-June 1, 2019 accidents: 13
January 1-December 31, 2018 accidents: 34
Combined total: 47 (2017: 22)

Number 2: West Colfax Avenue at Speer Boulevard
2018 ranking: Not listed

January 1-June 1, 2019 accidents: 15
January 1-December 31, 2018 accidents: 37
Combined total: 52

Number 1: West Alameda Avenue at South Santa Fe Drive
2018 ranking: Number 1

January 1-June 1, 2019 accidents: 22
January 1-December 31, 2018 accidents: 34
Combined total: 56 (2017 total: 37)