[bouldercouncilhotline] FW: Notes from Kick-off of State Highway 119 Bus Rapid Transit Corridor Project

[cmosupport]

From: Jones, Suzanne
Sent: Saturday, September 2, 2017 3:58 PM
To: HOTLINE <HOTLINE at bouldercolorado.gov>
Subject: Notes from Kick-off of State Highway 119 Bus Rapid Transit Corridor Project

Dear All-

Last week I attended the first meeting of the State Highway 119 Bus Rapid Transit Corridor Project, along with city staffers Kathleen Bracke, Jean Sanson, and Natalie Stifler. Establishing a more robust multi-modal corridor between Longmont and Boulder, including bus rapid transit (BRT) and a separate bike path, is a top priority for both cities and a key recommendation of the Northwest Area Mobility Study. Below are our collective notes from the kick-off meeting. Please email me or staff if you have any questions.

Cheers,
Zan

State Highway 119 Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Corridor Project: Notes from Kick-Off Meeting

Background: The first meeting of the State Highway 119 BRT Corridor Project joint Policy Advisory Committee and Technical Advisory Committee was held on August 23, 2017.  The Regional Transportation District (RTD) is leading the 18-month study with the support and involvement of the City of Boulder and participating jurisdictions and agencies. The project will analyze alternative BRT improvement options between Boulder and Longmont, with the goal of advancing a locally preferred alternative with broad stakeholder and community support. The project will also develop preliminary engineering plans, along with National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) clearance of the BRT improvements, preliminary capital and operations and maintenance costs and a financial analysis/phased funding strategy for implementation.

Project Purpose: At the kick-off meeting, the purpose and need for the project were stated as wanting to achieve the following:

  *   Advance Northwest Area Mobility Study recommendations, which prioritizes BRT between Boulder and Longmont
  *   Address growing travel demand in the State Highway 119 corridor
  *   Increase "person throughput", including transit, pedestrians, bicycles and cars
  *   Minimize environmental impacts while improving multimodal access
  *   Focus on safe solutions
  *   Reduce corridor transit travel time and improve reliability
  *   Improve transit connections and first and last mile connectivity
  *   Identify/evaluate cost effective BRT options

During the kick-off meeting, participants were asked to expand on the vision for a successful project. Additional themes included a high-quality, reliable and frequent BRT system with convenient local and regional connections, competitive transit travel times, congestion management, multimodal solutions and the need for broad community support.

Issues/Challenges: Some of the key challenges identified will include:

  *   Congestion and constraints on Ken Pratt Blvd & Main Street in Longmont, and on 28th Street & downtown in Boulder
  *   BRT connections with local bus network, regional routes, and how to interface with key destinations in each city
  *   Integration with community plans, compatibility with future commuter rail service
  *   Bus access to dispersed locations, first and last mile access to stations
  *   Funding availability

Funding: Currently, RTD has $30M allocated in its Strategic Business Plan for State Highway 119 BRT implementation in 2022. It is generally recognized that this amount will only partially fund BRT in the corridor and additional funding sources will be needed to realize full BRT implementation.

State Highway 119 Managed Lane and Bikeway Study: The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) will also be initiating a study ($250,000) for a bikeway and managed lanes in the SH 119 corridor between Boulder and Longmont. The Study is expected to begin within the next few months and will run concurrent with, but slightly behind, RTD's State Highway 119 BRT project.  CDOT has identified roughly $50-$100+million in implementation funding for State Highway 119, with details to be determined once the corridor studies are complete.

Next Steps: The next meeting of the Policy Advisory Committee and Technical Advisory Committee will be held in early-November with planned public meetings in mid-November to present a range of initial BRT options. RTD staff (Lisa Trujillo) will follow up with details so that cities, chambers, and Transportation Management Associations, can send information out through their own channels.  City of Boulder and Boulder County staff will follow up with CDOT regarding details for the State Highway 119 commuter bikeway and managed lanes study, and will work with RTD and CDOT to explore potential regional funding opportunities for State Highway 119 improvements through the next Denver Regional Council of Government's Transportation Improvement Program multi-year funding cycle, as well as future state and federal sources.



Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows 10

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://list.ci.boulder.co.us/pipermail/bouldercouncilhotline/attachments/20170905/b225350d/attachment.html