Folsom Street between Pine Street and Colorado Avenue is a key component of the City of Boulder’s Core Arterial Network, a connected system of protected bike lanes, intersection improvements and transit facility upgrades. Beginning this month, the city’s Transportation and Mobility Department will begin reaching out to businesses and residents neighboring Folsom Street to understand how they would like to be engaged in the process to improve the corridor over the next year.
Boulder Chamber Transportation Connections is partnering with the Folsom Street Safety Improvements Project team on outreach to and engagement of business owners, operators and employees along the corridor. Watch your mail for a questionnaire aimed specifically at businesses on or near Folsom Street!
As the outreach process gets underway, we invite those interested in the project to refer to the list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) below, and to reach out to the project team at folsomproject@bouldercolorado.gov or 303-441-3200 with any additional questions.
- What is the project?
- The Folsom Street Safety Improvements Project will include community engagement to help inform conceptual designs that will improve north-south travel on Folsom Street between Pine Street and Colorado Avenue, providing safer, more convenient and more comfortable travel choices for people no matter how they choose to move along this corridor.
- Why is the city doing this project?
- Folsom Street from Pine Street to Colorado Avenue is an important north-south corridor in central Boulder. As a major corridor for bicycling and taking transit, Folsom Street connects residents, office spaces, restaurants, shops, grocery stores, parks, and CU Boulder’s Main Campus, to the on and off-street walk and bike network, and to local and regional transit. It is the third of three priority corridors in the city’s Core Arterial Network (CAN) initiative — Boulder’s connected system of multimodal transportation (taking the bus, driving, biking and walking) improvements along our main corridors that will help reduce the potential for severe crashes and make it more comfortable and convenient for people to get where they need to go. Folsom Street is also part of the Low Stress Walk and Bike Network, on the city’s High Risk Network, and on the Denver Regional Council of Governments’ High-Injury Network, all of which emphasize the need for safety improvements on Folsom Street.
- When will the project occur?
- The Folsom Street Safety Improvements Project will begin in Fall/Winter 2024 with multiple community engagement opportunities to inform a recommended design alternative being presented to City Council in Summer 2025. What is implemented and when will depend on the final design and available funding.
- The Folsom Street Safety Improvements Project will follow the Community and Environmental Assessment Process (CEAP). The CEAP is a formal review process. It assesses the potential impacts of capital improvement projects to help select a recommended alternative. The evaluation will consider potential social and environmental impacts, project-specific criteria, and community feedback. The city uses the CEAP process to identify a recommended alternative by evaluating conceptual alternatives against the criteria of the three cornerstone components of this process: the CEAP Checklist, Project-Specific Evaluation Criteria and Community Input. The CEAP will be presented to the Transportation Advisory Board (TAB) in Summer 2025 who will make a recommendation to City Council. City Council will then be asked to approve TAB’s recommendation in Summer 2025.
- How will this project be different from the 2015 Living Lab project on Folsom Street?
- The process, size and purpose of the two projects are vastly different.
- The 2015 Folsom Street Living Lab was an experimental pilot project where the city built changes first and then evaluated their results through data collection and community engagement. The pilot project repurposed a vehicle lane to install post-separated bike lanes from Valmont Road to Canyon Boulevard to improve bicycle safety and comfort. After a two-month period, City Council gave direction to restore the segment between Pine Street and Canyon Boulevard to its original configuration of four vehicle lanes and painted bike lanes.
- Unlike the 2015 Folsom Street Living Lab, the Folsom Street Safety Improvements Project will have an extensive planning and approval process long before any construction begins. This includes community input, travel data collection, analysis of crashes, traffic patterns on nearby side streets, and national best practices. The recommended improvements will be brought to the Transportation Advisory Board (TAB) for their recommendation to City Council, and City Council will be asked to approve TAB’s recommendation through the city’s Community and Environmental Assessment Process (CEAP).
- Since the 2015 Folsom Street Living Lab, the transportation industry has made significant advancements in street designs that improve safety for everyone. The Folsom Street Safety Improvements Project will lean on these industry advancements and best practices to develop improvements the street, sidewalks and bike lanes, as well as traffic signals and signal timing, to provide safer, more convenient and more comfortable travel choices for people, no matter how they choose to move along this corridor.
- While there were many lessons learned from the Folsom Street Living Lab, the project led to the protected bike lanes that people use today along Folsom Street between Valmont Road and Pine Street, implemented in 2021 as part of the Pavement Management Program.
- The process, size and purpose of the two projects are vastly different.
- How can I share my feedback?
- The city is committed to transparent, inclusive, and equitable community engagement. The Folsom Street Safety Improvements Project will provide multiple opportunities to hear from the community. There will be four main windows for community engagement:
- Fall/Winter 2024: Understand what is working and what needs improvements through data analysis and community engagement.
- Winter 2024/2025: Share corridor analysis and initial improvement options with the community for feedback.
- Spring 2025: Share conceptual alternatives and the draft CEAP evaluation with the community for feedback.
- There will be citywide and localized engagement opportunities that will provide people who live, work and travel on the corridor, as well as interested community groups, the opportunity to provide their input. The city understands the pivotal role that businesses play on and near Folsom Street and is partnering with the Boulder Chamber and Boulder Chamber Transportation Connections to hear from businesses owners, operators, and employees.
- The city is committed to transparent, inclusive, and equitable community engagement. The Folsom Street Safety Improvements Project will provide multiple opportunities to hear from the community. There will be four main windows for community engagement:
- How do I learn more?
- The project webpage is the best place to go for up-to-date information, to learn about community engagement opportunities, and to sign up for the project newsletter. You can also contact city staff directly at folsomproject@bouldercolorado.gov or 303-441-3200.