Sub: The $56 million project will bring changes within two years
The full buildout of an improved Colo. 287 corridor between Boomfield and Colo. 66 north of Longmont will likely take 10 to 20 years, a Boulder County transportation planner said Wednesday.
The $56 million project would introduce enhanced bus service on the corridor and be developed in increments and in conjunction with other highway projects, Jeff Butts, multimodal planner for Boulder County, told members of Longmont’s Sustainability Advisory Board..
“In certain areas along the corridor, things will happen quicker than in other areas,” Butts told the board. “Some things would happen within two years.”
County planners are now in the middle of a feasibility study of adding Bus Rapid Transit, or BRT, to the highway. BRT would use dedicated lanes independent of normal traffic which would cut commute times, according to planners. Passengers could buy tickets before boarding the buses through multiple doors.
Butts pitched the sustainability aspects of BRT to the board, including relying on the bus system to move more people to their destination rather than single-passenger vehicles, Butts said.
BRT is projected to handle 9,000 daily boardings and take passengers from Longmont to Broomfield in 39 minutes, using dedicated bus lanes, Butts told the advisory board.
“That will save us some carbon,” he said.
