Building a Brighter Future: Learn About 11 Infrastructure Projects Around Boulder

From roads and bike paths to clean water and solar power, learn more about current city infrastructure projects below.

Construction work is in full swing to improve efficiency and multimodal access at one of the busiest intersections in Boulder. In partnership with the University of Colorado Boulder, the city is building two new underpasses beneath the intersection of 30th Street and Colorado Avenue for pedestrians and bicyclists. A protected intersection will also be constructed that provides safer travel for all users, and the new infrastructure will feature improved connections to nearby sidewalks, bike lanes and multi-use paths.

The Betasso Water Treatment Facility, which is the city’s primary drinking water treatment facility, is currently being upgraded to address aging infrastructure and enhance disinfection and corrosion control systems.

“This project will play a key role in meeting level of service goals, maintaining a reliable water supply, and preventing infrastructure constraints related to city-wide development, redevelopment, sustainability and resilience goals,” said Stephen Grooters, Engineering Services Manager.

From pavement resurfacing to paint refreshing to street sweeping, street maintenance is taking place across the city this summer to ensure Boulder’s 300-mile street system is in good condition before snow arrives. The city has started incorporating bike and pedestrian facility improvements into its annual street maintenance work to accelerate progress toward our Vision Zero traffic safety goal.

The city has installed traffic-calming treatments at 11 locations around Boulder over the past year, including new crosswalks and curb extensions to help slow vehicles and provide greater visibility and protection for pedestrians and bicyclists. The treatments were installed through the Vision Zero Innovation Program, which is finalizing locations for its second batch of treatments to be installed starting later this year.

The city is relocating Fire Station 3 to enable Boulder Fire-Rescue to respond to increased demand for service along the 30th Street corridor near Valmont Road and Pearl Street, improving response time in the area.

A new solar garden near the Boulder Reservoir is bringing local renewable energy to the city’s Ponderosa Mobile Home Park. Part of the city’s efforts to make solar accessible to all, the pilot program brings clean energy and savings to customers traditionally left out of the solar market. The Ponderosa Solar Garden is the first city-owned garden in the country dedicated to low-income participants and it is a part of the city’s strategy to eliminate energy burden by 2035. 

Digital infrastructure is key to helping community members connect to the services and information they need. The city launched a new website in July designed to be faster and easier for the public to use as well as a new online tool built with Google, Boulder For Me. Boulder For Me makes it easy for community members to find city services and programs they may be eligible to receive based on factors like age, family, income and location.

IDC Smart Cities North America recently recognized a city pilot project at North Boulder Rec Center that explores how electric vehicles can reduce building energy costs. Last year, the city and its partner, Fermata Energy, installed a charging station that enables two-way electricity: from the building to the car and from the car back to the building. This technology, called vehicle-to-building, can provide the city new ways to manage its energy load, and reduce energy costs.

The city’s West Age Well Center (WAWC) will reopen general programming on Aug. 16. The center has been closed since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The WAWC offers services for health and wellness, lifelong learning programs and case management to adults ages 60 and over and their caregivers. Some programs will continue to be offered virtually to help increase access and remote participation. For a full list of programs and services, visit the Let’s Age Well Program Guide.

The city will be installing a new year-round restroom facility, shade shelter with seating, and a year-round drinking fountain with bottle-filling station at the East Boulder Community Park. The improvements will provide much-needed services for the entire park and its many year-round users. A new bike track and skate park at Valmont Park is also under construction and should wrap-up later this month. The park is also receiving other improvements including parking lot renovations, a stormwater garden and dog park enhancements.

The city is also conducting major trail and ecological restoration projects across Boulder’s 46,000-acre open space system. The city continues to build the Anemone Hill Trail, a 3-mile trail loop west of downtown Boulder, and it anticipates beginning construction on a new loop trail on Gunbarrel Hill later this year. It is also conducting extensive repairs and maintenance along many trails, including the Royal Arch, Bear Canyon and 1st/2nd Flatiron trails. In addition, the city is completing numerous ecological projects, such as restoring habitat for federally threatened wildlife and plant species, minimizing invasive weed species and thinning trees to decrease the risk of catastrophic wildfires. View a map of current open space projects.

Many infrastructure projects like these are paid for by voter-approved measures such as the Community, Culture, and Safety Tax (CCS). The City of Boulder is exploring a measure for the November 2021 ballot that includes a 15-year extension of the 0.30% Community, Culture, Resilience and Safety Tax (formerly known as the CCS tax) and approval of up to a $110 million bond measure to help fund infrastructure projects.