BOULDER, Colo. — The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) will start ticketing drivers speeding 10 mph or more on Highway 119 between Boulder and Longmont, starting Monday.
This is part of the agency's Speed Enforcement Program, which kicked off in July along Highway 119, when speed cameras were set up in a construction work zone.
Since then, CDOT has issued more than 34,000 warning citations. However beginning Monday, $75 tickets will start getting handed out to anyone going over the speed limit.
There has already been a 80% decrease in speeding within the work zone. though, CDOT said. Just within the first month, average speeds dropped by about 8 mph.
Even before the Speed Enforcement Program began, CDOT said it was getting daily reports of dangerous speeding. The agency noticed a high severity of crashes with some resulting in serious injuries.
While many drivers travel this area every day, CDOT warns, work zones can change overnight, creating new traffic patterns you may not expect. With higher speeds, drivers have less time to react.
“That is extremely dangerous for our workers and for the drivers, especially as you're coming up onto new alignments, which is typical with all of our work zones,” CDOT spokesperson Stacia Sellers said. “The program team experienced dangerous speeding each night when the infrastructure was actually being installed, so when the speed enforcement cameras were being implemented.”
During 2025, CDOT data shows that work zone crashes in the state caused 532 injuries, a nearly 12% decrease from 2024.
There have also been eight work zone fatalities in 2025, a 73% decrease since the year prior.
The agency said while the data is promising, there is still work to be done on their most vulnerable roads. Since 2015, there have been 129 work zone-related crash fatalities in the state.
CDOT is also looking at adding more speed cameras to other work zones and school zones, depending on how successful this program is along Highway 119.
Fore more information on CDOT's Speed Enforcement Program, click here.
For more information on the improvement project taking place along Highway 119 between Boulder and Longmont click here.
