On Thursday, July 11, the City of Boulder Transportation and Mobility Department and Boulder Chamber Transportation Connections hosted a luncheon at the Boulder Swim Club for business owners, operators and employees working along Baseline Road between 30th Street and Foothills Parkway.
The Baseline Road Transportation Safety Project business community conversation gave representatives of eight businesses and nonprofit organizations along the corridor the opportunity to discuss how they travel to and from work, their support for and concerns about the new protected bike lanes and other infrastructure on Baseline Road, and how the project will evolve through Phase 2 beginning this fall.
Key themes from the conversation included how people who live and work in Boulder are more likely to bike, walk, ride a scooter, or take the bus to and from their jobs than those living outside the city and commuting in. For retail employers, such as Safeway at the Meadows Shopping Center, issues with workers’ ability to take the bus both at the beginning and end of their shifts is a concern, as the RTD 225 bus route along Baseline stops running before 10 pm. Some employees at businesses including the Homewood Suites Hotel have managed that issue by carpooling or taking Lime e-scooters. Increasing access to and frequency of bus service along Baseline emerged as an important theme.
Another theme included the need for increased awareness of and information about the infrastructure changes, including posting Vision Zero signage along the corridor and educating drivers about how to negotiate the flexible delineator posts and lane changes, as well as providing more speed enforcement. Employees who commute into Boulder, usually alone in their personal vehicles, discussed how the new protected bike lanes and tall curbs along Baseline require them to slow down significantly to make the new sharper turns required to access side streets and driveways, which can be confusing.
The Baseline corridor includes the University of Colorado’s Williams Village community, which has a dedicated bus system to transport students that travels along 30th Street. A representative from Williams Village talked about the learning curve for new students each fall: those who walk, bike and scooter along Baseline can benefit from more education to understand how to safely use the protected bike lanes and the traffic lanes on the corridor.
The Baseline Road business community conversation marked the second such event coordinated by Boulder Chamber Transportation Connections for businesses located along the city’s Core Arterial Network. Watch for more opportunities to engage in exclusive business conversations with the city as the projects evolve.