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Cyclists 4 Community Draft 2024 Program Service and Fundraising Goals

By July 11, 2023July 18th, 2023No Comments

Cyclists 4 Community’s program service and fundraising goals serve its mission of safer and better cycling through partnerships with Boulder County communities and governments focusing on infrastructure, policy, and outreach.

In an effort to execute on its mission, C4C develops draft program service goals in consultation with its board of directors, committees, and constituency–you.  Here’s what C4C is working on for 2024.

Click here to comment on these projects

INFRASTRUCTURE

A Feasibility Study for a Separated Bikeway (“Hard Surface Multi-use Path”) between Boulder and Golden in the State Highway 93 Right-of-Way — $450,000

C4C could attempt to partner broadly with governments and communities in Jefferson and Boulder Counties as well as state agencies that govern the SH 93 right-of-way to raise $450,000 to pay for a feasibility study for a separated bikeway between Boulder and Golden.

SH 93 is a state or CDOT road and, thus, CDOT’s governing document is a Planning and Environmental Linkage (PEL) document found here.  It’s also in the vicinity of the incremental work on the Front Range Trail.  A SH 93 separated bikeway is referenced in both documents.

A regional level project, a study would be the first step towards a bikeway that would fill in a path system from Denver to Golden to Boulder and Boulder County’s iconic riding and emerging path system to the in-progress Peaks to Plains Trail and, eventually, onward to path systems in Larimer and Weld Counties and in the mountains.

The project, however, is not in the Boulder County Transportation Sales Tax Funding List.  And, it was not awarded federal funding following a Boulder County grant application.  By working across counties and with multiple partners, C4C could attempt to fill the funding gap for this project.

The $450,000 figure is based off of the roughly $400,000 feasibility study taking place along North Foothills Highway / US 36 North between Boulder and Lyons which is an 11 mile study.  Boulder to Golden would be 13 miles.

Note the absence of the SH 93 Path project in this planned funding map.  That’s where C4C comes in.

 

Fundraising on The Scale of $1 Million to $5 Million in Order to Partner with Boulder County on The Construction of The North Foothills Path from the City of Boulder to Lefthand Canyon

Boulder County is currently overseeing a $400,000 feasibility study for a separated bikeway between the City of Boulder and Lyons on the US 36 North Foothills Highway right-of-way.  The next stages, if they are to come, would be planning, design, and construction.

According to the data, this road is one of the most dangerous combined auto and cycling use roads in the state.  Also notable is the shared position among professionals that the data does not even show the number of cyclists who avoid the road altogether, thus, skewing the data.

In order to realize the separated bikeway, it would probably cost between $20 million and $30 million for the entire project.  However, the busiest, statistically most dangerous, and most used segment is from the City of Boulder to Lefthand Canyon, about five miles.

Over the next 15 years, the County has about $3 million set aside for this project.  C4C could attempt to coordinate another, say, $1 million to $5 million in fundraising to get the City to Lefthand section done, save lives, and build a great facility.

Infrastructure and policy in the U.S. produce significantly higher seriously injured and killed than peer nations.  On U.S. 36 North Foothills Highway, we could start to fix that and improve a great cycling connection.

POLICY

C4C’s policy goals remain steady in what is tedious work.

  • Begin to apply SHIFT Driving to alternative sentencing, drivers education, and other uses in order to increase awareness.
  • Partner with Bicycle Colorado on their legislative goals.  Bicycle Colorado has expert staff in this area.  C4C does well to remain aligned with and supportive of BC’s lead.
  • Continued support for Boulder County’s multi-modal transportation plan, for instance, the Highway 119 Boulder – Longmont bikeway.  This plan represents a leading standard in county-scaled transportation.
  • Improving the signage standard.
  • Updating summary government website language about the laws for sharing the roads.
  • Staying involved in Vision Zero work in the County.  The County has done a great job with this ongoing program.
  • Taking a look at how to support enforcement, especially in partnership with the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office which demonstrates an understanding of the topic.

OUTREACH

C4C’s outreach category consists of two main parts.  One, its porta-potty program (te-he).  Two, the Boulder County Cycling Community.

By placing porta-potties in small towns and businesses around Boulder County, there’s been a observable improvement in relations between locals, drivers, and cyclists.

It also gives those communities a relationship to an institution, C4C, in the community whom they can call and to whom they can voice their related complaints, concerns, and thoughts.  That all goes a long way.

Currently, there are units in Jamestown, Gold Hill, Raymond, and Hygiene.  C4C is deliberating other locations.

The BCCC is lead by Don Hobbs due to his expertise in relations across Boulder County’s broad cycling community.  The intention is to communicate to the tens of thousands of cyclists in Boulder County through leaders while not interfering with them.

Something so simple that helps so much.

All these goals remain under deliberation and your input is welcomed.  Thank you for supporting Cyclists 4 Community.