What a Year in Transportation Looks Like in Boulder
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2023 Transportation Snapshot
The City of Boulder Transportation and Mobility Department is dedicated to building a people-first transportation system: a safe, accessible and sustainable multimodal transportation network that brings people and places together.
In 2023, here’s what we worked on to keep our community moving.
2023 Highlights
The top five highlights from the year include:
We built Boulder’s first protected intersection — along with an underpass for walking and biking.
Years in the making, Boulder’s new protected intersection and underpass make travel safer for everyone with separated, protected lanes for people walking and bicycling. The 30th Street and Colorado Avenue project is part of a set of upcoming projects supporting travel at one of the busiest areas in the city.
We continued prioritizing improvements on key streets.
A City Council priority, improvements on the city’s Core Arterial Network, or CAN, will help reduce the potential for severe crashes and make it more comfortable and convenient for people to get where they need to go along Boulder’s main corridors.
We supported cleaner, greener transportation by distributing over 400 adaptive, cargo, and standard e-bike vouchers — including 351 income-qualified e-bike vouchers with higher discounts for eligible community members.
The city also worked with local organizations like Community Cycles to get the word out, coordinate with local bike shops, encourage people to sign up, and teach the community about greener travel options.
I love my e-bike and enjoy riding it. — Older adult E-bike Incentives participant.
We’ve been awarded over $30 million to help fund proposed transportation projects.
The city has been awarded over $30 million in state and federal transportation funds! Funds will support specific projects the city submitted in its grant applications, including projects to help end severe crashes, support safer and more efficient travel, and improve multimodal travel — including for people walking and biking to local schools.
We completed the new Vision Zero Action Plan.
Vision Zero is the city’s goal of zero serious and fatal crashes. The 2023-2027 Vision Zero Action Plan outlines ways to ways to work toward this goal over the next five years.
Hearing from community
We asked for feedback, and Boulder delivered! You helped inform projects around the city’s transportation network, the airport, the city’s snow and ice response, streetlight color temperatures, access to Chautauqua Park, social streets and more.
The community shared over 7,400 comments on city transportation projects.
Boulder submitted over 5,600 transportation requests on Inquire Boulder, with 2023 hot topics focused on potholes and the airport.
Community members contributed to the Boulder Valley Resident Travel Study to help the region understand how Boulder travels and how we can work toward meeting its transportation goals.
The city held several bilingual community meetings in Spanish and English for key projects, supporting equitable community engagement.
Improving safety and connectivity
Core Arterial Network
We built strategic safety improvements during pavement resurfacing along parts of Baseline Road, including protected bike lanes and new crosswalks and “crossbikes” — crossings painted green for people biking.
We began holding community conversations for the Iris Avenue Transportation Improvements Project, including an open house, listening sessions, pop-ups and other events, to hear your thoughts, concerns and hopes.
Lighting in all underpasses along multi-use paths is now on 24 hours a day to support peoplewalking, biking and rolling. Lights were also converted to light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, which support safe travel and energy cost savings by improving visibility and energy efficiency.
Traveling in style
We featured a local artist’s work on new protected bike lanes along Baseline Road and installed an urban design project: a mural crosswalk at Pearl Street and 18th Street. These public art and design projects were installed in collaboration with both the Transportation and Mobility Department and the Community Vitality Department.
Providing transportation choices
Charging up your ride
The city's shared e-bike and e-scooter program supports more sustainable local transportation alternatives, encouraging people to take trips without a car and connect them to transit options for longer trips.
Since the expansion, there were over 330,000 trips onLime e-scooters.
In 2023, there were over 700,000 trips on BCycle-bikes.
The Share the Path courtesy campaign supported the message of moving around Boulder together, however you choose to get around town.
Bringing transit back
Bus ridership in Boulder continues to rebound closer to pre-COVID-19 levels.
The 19 public bus routes serving Boulder averaged over 21,800 weekday riders in the fall of 2023 — about 19% higher than in fall 2022.
The community took 557,939 trips on the city’s HOP bus route in 2023 — about 27% higher than 2022 numbers.
Regional travel options
The city collaborated with regional and state partners on transportation projects.
A regional team, including city staff, secured full funding for the CO 119 Safety, Mobility and Bikeway Projectbetween Boulder and Longmont. Construction will begin in 2024.
With the support of your input, our partners at RTD brought back popular services on Route FF1 from Boulder to Denver route and Route GS from Boulder to Golden.
Keeping Boulder moving
Everything we use to travel needs to be maintained. City staff work daily to maintain the transportation network that keeps Boulder moving — whether that be our streets, bike lanes, multi-use paths, crosswalks, streetlights, or traffic signs and signals.
Roads and sidewalks
36.3 lane miles of pavement repaired.
30,000 square feet of pavement patched.
199 ADA curb ramps upgraded or built.
Responded to 1,394 pothole repair requests.
Responded to 242 pavement maintenance requests.
Signs and markings
1,388 traffic signs installed, maintained or replaced.
877 traffic posts, or delineators, installed or replaced.
149,278 square feet of pavement markings, such as crosswalks, maintained or installed.
Snow removal
Nearly 48,000 miles plowed.
Held the annual snowplow naming contest, with winning names like Pizza.
32 adopted bus stops shoveled by volunteers — including 12 new volunteers for the 2023-2024 snow season.
Continued priority work on the city’s Core Arterial Network — including community engagement, new bike lanes and the city’s second fully protected intersection.