Correspondence with City Hall

Notification of Construction Newsletter 28th Street – South Segment – Baseline to Arapahoe, mailed by the city, November 2001. Although the title is PROPOSED CHANGES TO TRAFFIC MOVEMENTS AT COLORADO, the first sentence states that construction will start beginning this winter. Also notice that it's a bit difficult to understand this newsletter.
Glitch in 28th St redevelopment at Colordao – Initial request to City Council to consider this issue and reponse by Bob Whitson, Transportation Planner
Engineering constraints as described by Bill Cowern, Transportation Operations Engineer

Glitch in 28th St redevelopment at Colordao

Initial email to City Council from David Leserman, 1/27/02

From: "David H. Leserman"
To: City Council Members <council@ci.boulder.co.us>
Date: 1/27/02 5:50PM
Subject: Glitch in 28th St Redevelopment at Colordao

Dear City Council Members,

I bring to your attention a "glitch" in the plans for the redevelopment of 28th Street at Colorado Avenue. Residents of the three neighborhoods that currently access CU and Highway 36 South to Denver via the 28th St. Frontage Rd. will be denied that access by the imminent changes.

The issue is described in detail on a web site at http://28thandcolorado.com/.

A neighbor on Cordry Court, and I have been discussing this matter with Bob Whitson. He is now exploring alternatives that might spare us an extended commute. The final plan is at CDOT for approval and ready to go to bid. Time is of the essence in finding a solution before construction begins. We are arguing for a solution that more fairly balances the neighborhood access considerations with the other transportation considerations involved.

We ask that you be aware of our concern and we hope that you will encourage staff to find a better solution for the planned changes at 28th and Colorado. We are holding off on raising neighborhood awareness of the issue until we have some further idea of what solutions might arise without that effort.

Thanks very much.

Best regards,

David Leserman
2806 Cordry Court

City Council response to staff from Spense Havlick 01/28/02

What about this so-called glitch?

Staff response to City Council from Bob Whitson, 02/05/02

Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2002 12:37:09 -0700
From: "Jennifer Bray" <BrayJ@ci.boulder.co.us>
To: <gralappm@boulder.lib.co.us>,<Andersenc@ci.boulder.co.us>,
      <BrayJ@ci.boulder.co.us>, <ColeB@ci.boulder.co.us>,
      <CorsonD@ci.boulder.co.us>, <CrainJ@ci.boulder.co.us>,
      <CunninghamE@ci.boulder.co.us>, <deRaismesJ@ci.boulder.co.us>,
      <EldridgeT@ci.boulder.co.us>, <GehrD@ci.boulder.co.us>,
      <GordonJ@ci.boulder.co.us>, <grogans@ci.boulder.co.us>,
      <HavlickS@ci.boulder.co.us>, <KaplanM@ci.boulder.co.us>,
      <LargeA@ci.boulder.co.us>, <LewisA@ci.boulder.co.us>,
      <LoveK@ci.boulder.co.us>, <MockD@ci.boulder.co.us>,
      <MorganKa@ci.boulder.co.us>, <MorzelL@ci.boulder.co.us>,
      <muellera@ci.boulder.co.us>, <PattonM@ci.boulder.co.us>,
      <PetersenJ@ci.boulder.co.us>, <PoinsatteF@ci.boulder.co.us>,
      <PollockP@ci.boulder.co.us>, <PurdyS@ci.boulder.co.us>,
      <RiggleG@ci.boulder.co.us>, <RomeroR@ci.boulder.co.us>,
      <RuzzinM@ci.boulder.co.us>, <SecristR@ci.boulder.co.us>,
      <ToorW@ci.boulder.co.us>, <VarnesR@ci.boulder.co.us>,
      "Bob Whitson" <WhitsonB@ci.boulder.co.us>,
      <<WinfreeT@ci.boulder.co.us>, <YegianJ@ci.boulder.co.us>
Cc: David Leserman
Subject: HOTLINE RESPONSE: Glitch in 28th St Redevelopment at Colorado

>>> Bob Whitson 02/05/02 10:34AM >>>

Hotline Response, Subject: Transportation improvement planned at 28th and Colorado

Staff Response
The improvements for this intersection have been in the works for the past year. City Council's goal for this corridor is to create a multi-modal system that finds a balance between pedestrian, bike, transit and roadway improvements. Working with a citizen committee, the Transportation Advisory Board (TAB) and City Council, staff has developed a design for the Southern Section of the 28th street corridor that is multi-modal in nature.

Based on concepts approved by TAB, Planning Board and City Council, the plan for the intersection of the frontage road and Colorado calls for several changes:

Implement new regional transit service, northbound on the frontage road
Build continuous detached sidewalks on the east side of the frontage road
Build on-street bike lanes, north and southbound on the frontage road
Implement new local transit service, east and westbound on Colorado
Build improvements to the intersection to improve roadway safety for autos

Providing northbound transit and enhanced protected signalization for bicycles and pedestrians on the frontage road requires that traffic movements on the frontage road be reconfigured. Today, an auto traveling southbound on the frontage road can turn right and either travel across 28th street toward the CU campus or do an "S" turn and travel south toward Denver.

After the multi-modal improvements listed above are made at this intersection, an auto traveling southbound on the frontage road will be able to either go south on the frontage road or turn left on Colorado eastbound. Neither of these movements are possible today.

For people southbound on the frontage road wanting to go to the destinations they are going to today, there will be several alternatives:

They can turn left at Colorado and use either 30th street or 47th street to go toward Denver
They can go south on the frontage road to Baseline and then use US 36 to go toward Denver or the CU campus
They can also exit from the frontage road to 28th at Pennsylvania and do a U-turn at the entrance to the Hotel and Safeway to go south on 28th to Denver and the CU campus

We have heard from people on both sides of the issue. Some do not like the changes and some like the new ability to travel south on the frontage road at Colorado. Overall, the changes will improve all modes of travel.

Bob Whitson, whitsonb@ci.boulder.co.us , City of Boulder, (303) 441-4155

Engineering constraints

Initial email to Transportation Engineer from David Leserman, 1/27/02

Hi, Bill.

I left you a phone message last Friday and again today. I'd like to talk to you about the plan for the intersection of 28th St Frontage Road at Colorado. I understand that you're the man in engineering to talk to. Please call. Thanks.

Regards,
David Leserman

Response from Traffic Engineer, Bill Cowern, 1/27/02

Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2002 13:54:46 -0700
From: "Bill Cowern"
To: David Leserman
Cc: "Robert Whitson"
Subject: Re: 28th & Colorado

Hi David.

As I mentioned in my voicemail, I'll provide some information in this e-mail and if you have additional questions or concerns, I should be in the office this afternoon and most of tomorrow and we can talk further.

The fundamental change at the 28th Frontage & Colorado intersection, is the ability for vehicles (buses only) to travel NB through the intersection. The impact this has on the SB right turn movement is that vehicles making this SB right turn movement, historically have swung out to the east and then cut back to the west so that they could properly align their vehicles for either a WB left turn (to go SB on US-36) or a WB through movement (along Colorado towards the Campus). There is not enough room between the frontage road and US-36 to align your vehicle, unless you swing into what will now be the path of a NB vehicle on the frontage road (and the SB bicycle lane). This situation is exacerbated by the placement of a Bicycle Lane on the Frontage Road. If we were to allow people to make a SB right turn, they would now be pushed over 6 feet further to the west, causing them to have to make an even sharper turn to properly align their vehicle in the intersection. Vehicles making this turn would have to pass into the path of a SB bicycle and/or a NB bus in order to properly align their vehicle in the intersection.

Another issue is that there will be a second SB left turn lane at the 28th Street and Colorado intersection. The path of vehicles using this lane will travel over the area that used to be used by those vehicles making the SB right turn movement from the frontage road. This results in less room for a vehicle to pull into when making this SB right turn lane. Coupled with the factors outlined above, it makes it impossible for a driver to pull into and properly align their vehicle in the space between the frontage road and US-36.

Our staff believes that these three factors constrain that SB right turn movement enough that it will not be able to make that movement safely once the intersection is reconstructed/restriped and all of these new movements are present. In truth, any one of them is sufficient to cast doubt on the safety of this movement in the future but all three together are truly compelling.

I realize it is difficult to convey these facts in an e-mail. If any of these factors don't make sense to you, please call me and we can talk them through.

Recently, Bob Whitson and I discussed a possible alternative, that would move the north side of the Frontage Road further east and could mitigate some of these concerns. It would require the support of the property owner on the NE corner of this intersection, and Bob Whitson is currently looking into that option. It may be possible to still allow the SB right turn at the Frontage Road, if the roadway can be reconstructed in this fashion.

Bob Whitson can provide more input into whether that option is possible or not.

Again, if you have further questions or concerns, please contact me at 303-441-3266.

Bill Cowern
Transportation Operations Engineer
City of Boulder
303-441-3266
cowernb@ci.boulder.co.us