This summer, the City of Boulder will fix the deteriorated pavement on segments of Pearl Street and Folsom Street with a repaving project. The city will also update the striping on newly paved segments to meet current vehicle and bike lane standards.
Beginning in early July, city maintenance crews will repave Pearl Street between Folsom and 30th Street. Later in the month, crews will repave Folsom Street between Pine Street and Arapahoe Avenue. Repaving now will avoid more costly maintenance in the future. Construction for each street will take approximately two weeks to complete.
As part of this routine maintenance work, the City of Boulder’s Pavement Management Program Mobility Enhancements Initiative will also install near-term safety enhancements. Coordinating these efforts is a cost-effective and efficient way to deliver immediate smaller-scale safety upgrades during routine maintenance efforts.
While near-term safety enhancements on Folsom Street are informed by community engagement from the Folsom Street Safety Improvements Project, this work is a separate effort. Once the city has secured additional funding for the corridor project, the Transportation and Mobility Department will advance the recommended improvements to final design and construction.
What You Can Expect During Construction:
- Travel Impacts: Temporary lane closures and bus stop closures/relocations. Pearl Street will mostly be completed overnight to minimize travel impacts. Traffic control will be onsite to guide travelers and keep work crews safe.
- Rough Surface: A temporary rough surface after the roadway is “milled,” or the top 2 inches of old pavement are removed, and before a new layer of asphalt is added. This is safe to travel on.
- Business Access: Continued access to local businesses and parking lots.
What You Can Expect After Construction:
On Folsom Street:
- Updated Striping: Restriped vehicle and bike lanes that meet current city standards.
- Lower Speed Limit: A reduced speed limit from 30 to 25 mph between Valmont Road and Colorado Avenue – the recommendation from the city’s separate but related Speed Limit Setting and Signing Project.
- Intersection Improvements: Enhanced safety elements for all travelers, including protected corner islands, bike boxes, and “No Right on Red” designations.
- At the Folsom/Pearl intersection: The outside northbound lane will be converted into a right-turn-only lane at Pearl Street. This change eliminates the short northbound vehicle merge that currently occurs north of Spruce Street, directly addressing safety concerns heard during last year’s Folsom Street Safety Improvements Project community and business engagement. It also reduces driver conflicts by separating right-turning vehicles from through-traffic, lowers the number of vehicle lanes pedestrians must cross at Spruce Street, and allows the northbound bike lane between Pearl and Pine streets to be upgraded to a post-separated bike lane, similar to the existing southbound bike lane between Pine and Spruce streets.
On Pearl Street:
- Updated Striping: Restriped vehicle and bike lanes that meet current city standards. Bike lanes will be widened, buffered, or post-separated where space allows.
Learn more and view construction impacts on the Pavement Management Program webpage.
*This work is weather-dependent and may be rescheduled.