Boulder's Core Arterial Network

We know that a majority (67%) of traffic crashes that result in serious injury or fatality occur on Boulder’s arterial streets. As a Vison Zero city, we believe no one should be killed or seriously injured on our streets. In addition to the devastating impact of severe crashes on people’s lives, the Safe Streets Report estimates the societal cost of serious injury and fatal crashes in Boulder between 2018-2020 alone at $100 million.

In addition to addressing the human costs of these crashes, the CAN will also help Boulder make progress toward its climate goals. With many local and regional transit service options and more than 300 miles of bikeways, including 73 miles of multi-use paths and nearly 90 bicycle and pedestrian underpasses, Boulder has an extensive network of multimodal infrastructure that makes it easier to choose non-vehicular forms of travel and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The CAN will enhance connections between these existing facilities and the places people live and work and their other daily community destinations.

Boulder City Council identified 13 individual corridors where the city will focus its efforts over the next several years. Projects along these streets will enhance connectivity along the Core Arterial Network – amplifying previous investments and ensuring a predictable, safe journey between where people live and work and major destinations, such as schools, parks, grocery stores, and shopping, to name a few. Many projects are already underway to improve arterial safety and others will be initiated over the next 3-5 years.

Three of these streets are priority corridors for the Core Arterial Network: Baseline Road, Iris Avenue and Folsom Street.

These corridors were prioritized because they will provide:

• Enhanced multimodal north-south and east-west connectivity, which is currently lacking in these areas.
• The opportunity to pair improvements with scheduled pavement resurfacing.

The Baseline Road Transportation Safety Improvements Project, will improve the east-west corridor from 28th Street to Foothills Parkway, connecting residents, students, and RTD/Buff Bus routes in East Boulder.

The project will be implemented in two phases:

• Phase 1 uses local dollars and leverages planned pavement resurfacing as part of the city’s 2023 Pavement Management Program (PMP) to gain the safety benefits of strategic, prioritized location improvements now while the city awaits the distribution of DRCOG 2022-2025 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) funds in the first quarter of 2024.
• The city will develop Phase 2 planning and design after receiving $3.2 million in TIP funds in 2024. Phase 2 funds offer the opportunity to deliver more comprehensive, capital-intensive multimodal improvements, such as completing the bike lane protection implemented in Phase 1, additional pedestrian enhancements, and transit efficiency improvements.

The Iris Avenue Transportation Improvements Project (Broadway to 28th Street) will focus on improving Iris Avenue, an important east-west corridor in North Boulder, to make travel safer, more comfortable, and connected, no matter how someone chooses to connect to important community destinations, like elementary schools, childcare centers, health and community services, community gardens, housing, work, restaurants and shops, a grocery store, parks, and a recreation center as well as a regional connection to downtown.

Folsom Street (Pine Street to Colorado Avenue) is an important north-south corridor in central Boulder that connects residents, office spaces, restaurants, shops, grocery stores, parks, and CU’s main college campus to each other and the city’s transportation network of on and off-street walking and biking routes and local and regional transit.

In May 2023, DRCOG approved a TIP funding award for community engagement and conceptual design for this corridor. Funds are expected to be available for project initiation in the first quarter of 2025.

Community engagement, design and/or construction have started on 10 of the 13 CAN corridors. Related projects, which are either on the CAN corridors or provide connections to these corridors, will enter planning, design and/or construction between 2023 and 2025.

In 2024 or beyond, design and community engagement will start on the remaining corridors:

• 30th Street Preliminary Design — CO 119 to CO 7
• East Arapahoe Avenue / CO 7 Between Brighton and Boulder – Segment A: 28th Street to 63rd Street Preliminary Study (CDOT project)
• East Arapahoe Avenue 28th Street to Foothills Parkway Final Design
• Broadway Transit Improvements – Table Mesa Drive to Regent Drive
• Downtown Mobility Study

The focus on the Core Arterial Network provides a clear path forward for improvements to these streets, many of which have already been identified in the city’s adopted transportation plans such as the 2019 Transportation Master Plan and Low-Stress Walk and Bike Network Plan. Concentrating the city’s resources and pursuing grant funding for these projects will also address the goals of overarching city plans like the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan and Climate Action Plan.