SAVE VISION ZERO Stop CU and Limelight/ Aspen Skiing Company from building a deadly intersection across the Broadway Bike path

BikeNonProfitAdvocacy, News

We hope you have signed the petition asking CU and Limelight/ Aspen Skiing Company not to build a deadly crossing of the Broadway bike path at Grandview.

Community Cycles has been working tirelessly on this issue. We have been meeting with city staff, CU staff, City Council members, CDOT, lawyers, professional traffic engineers and planners, the Transportation Advisory Board and Planning Board, and corporate responsibility consultants in our efforts to find a workable solution to make this intersection safe. This has not been an easy process due to a memorandum of agreement the city signed with CU over the placement of the conference center, the different process CU goes through for development because it is a state agency, and the multiple jurisdictions involved (the city, CU, CDOT, and the developer, Limelight, a subsidiary of Aspen Skiing Company).

Now we need you. 

We are asking CU and Limelight/Aspen Skiing Company to commission an independent Safety Study by the nation’s leading bike and pedestrian engineering firm – Toole Design – to look at what has been proposed and make suggestions so this intersection complies with best safety practices and Boulder’s Vision Zero Initiatives. Two prior traffic studies by CU/Aspen Skiing Company’s Chicago-based traffic engineers did not even mention bikes, pedestrians or the multi-use path or look at possible conflicts, as would be standard practice in Boulder or anywhere adjacent to major bike/ped infrastructure.

How can you help?

  • Write City Council, CU and Limelight/Aspen Skiing Company. See below for email addresses and talking points.
  • Post on Facebook, Twitter, or other social media and Tag @AspenSnowmass
  • Donate –  Fighting this dangerous intersection takes time and money – staff time, hiring engineers and lawyers, etc. Your support will help us do the most we can to fight for a safe intersection.

Please send 2 emails with the same content to:

  1. Boulder City Council: Contact with Council is now through a web interface rather than e-mail. From the pulldown menu for the topic, choose Transportation and Mobility, check the 2 boxes to send to staff and the entire city council, then enter your comment in the space provided.

  2. Send the same text in an email to :
    CU: Lori Call
    Limelight/Aspen Skiing Company: Andrew Reed & Jean Coulter
    Planning and Development Service Director Brad Mueller
    Alexey Davies, Community Cycles Advocacy Manager

If possible, tell your own story: how you use the Broadway multi-use path, why you are concerned, how this all makes you feel.

Talking points:

  • The CU Conference Center increases traffic from 70 cars a day to 1150 cars a day across the Broadway bike path at Grandview through an unsignalized intersection on a downhill.
  • The most recent traffic study submitted by CU/Limelight is inadequate as it does not even mention bicycles, pedestrians or the Broadway multi-use path.
  • As currently planned, this intersection defies Boulder’s Vision Zero principles and goals.
  • The left turn from southbound Broadway across two lanes of traffic and the bicycle & pedestrian path is particularly dangerous and should be closed.
  • According to the city’s own Safe Streets Report, right turns from a stop sign controlled intersection are the top location of bike crashes, followed by left turns. Multi-use paths are the most common location for bicycle crashes.
  • The right turn in and right turn out have lines of sight that would not be acceptable to CDOT for a new road, making these movements very dangerous to all users.
  • Request CU and Limelight/Aspen Ski Company to commission a Safety Study on Broadway/ Grandview intersection done by Toole Design, the leader in bike/ped designs in North American, to evaluate the current design and suggest any necessary improvements and best practices.

Please opt in for Community Cycles Advocacy Alerts if you haven’t already.  Enter your email address and select Advocacy on the bottom right of the CC homepage.

Thank you!!!
Sue Prant – Executive Director Community Cycles