Highway Expansion Encourages More Than Just Driving

[cpzilliacus]

N.Y. Times: Highway Expansion Encourages More Than Just Driving

DENVER – Driving to Boulder from here offers a spectacular mountain panorama, but the nearer view is anything but impressive. U.S. 36, the unlovely highway that connects the cities, is crowded and often painfully slow, dotted with malls, fast-food restaurants and other commercial flotsam.

It is, in other words, an average highway. But not for long. Work has begun on an upgrade for U.S. 36 that will incorporate a special fast lane for high-occupancy vehicles, bus rapid transit service, an electronic toll system for single-occupant cars and a bike path.

It is, in other words, a highway designed to encourage people to drive less.

[mgk920]

I'm not sold on 'HOT' lanes (especially the enforcement thereof), but incorporating non-motorized paths in freeway projects is nothing new - US 10 west of US(I)-41 here in the Appleton, WI area has a path along it that was built as part of the freeway, ten+ years ago.

The I-94 Saint Croix River bridge (MN-WI state line) has a path on it, too.

Mike

[Duke87]

Oh sure, upgrade the road to Boulder. Which dumps you right into downtown. I suppose a bypass is too much to ever hope for, huh?

[froggie]

I'm not sold on 'HOT' lanes (especially the enforcement thereof),

Evidence from Minnesota suggests that violation rates for former HOV lanes turned into HO/T lanes are much reduced after conversion.  This is based on studies MnDOT did after they converted the I-394 HOV lanes to HO/T lanes in 2005.

but incorporating non-motorized paths in freeway projects is nothing new

Indeed.  The I-35E "parkway" south of downtown St. Paul, MN is another example....one over 20 years old at this point.

The I-94 Saint Croix River bridge (MN-WI state line) has a path on it, too.

As a general rule, most major MnDOT river bridge projects over the past 30 years have incorporated bike/ped paths on them.  I-94 St Croix River, MN 610, I-694, I-35E, MN 77, Mendota Bridge, I-494 Wakota Bridge, etc etc.  The new US 61 Hastings and US 52 Lafayette Bridges under construction will have sidepaths.

There are 4 exceptions I can think of offhand, but 3 of the 4 have nearby parallel routes for bikes/peds.  The new I-35W bridge has the 10th Ave Bridge immediately downriver (almost within spitting distance), yet was still designed to eventually support a bike/ped "underhang".  The I-94 Mississippi River Bridge has the Franklin Ave bridge a short ways downstream.  The US 169 Bloomington Ferry Bridge doesn't have a bike/ped path, but that project included converting the old bridge road into a bike/ped path with a new bike/ped only bridge at the old bridge site.

The last one is kind of a disappointment.  The new I-90 bridge under construction at Dresbach will not include a bike/ped path, because there are "no plans for bike facilities on the Wisconsin side of the bridge".  So cyclists coming from or heading to nearby rail-trails in Wisconsin will still have to navigate downtown La Crosse and cross the big blue bridge 5 miles downstream.

[triplemultiplex]

The last one is kind of a disappointment.  The new I-90 bridge under construction at Dresbach will not include a bike/ped path, because there are "no plans for bike facilities on the Wisconsin side of the bridge".  So cyclists coming from or heading to nearby rail-trails in Wisconsin will still have to navigate downtown La Crosse and cross the big blue bridge 5 miles downstream.

Would have been nice.  It's the Mississippi; crossings are kind of rare.  All new spans should have bicycle/pedestrian accommodations.  Minus points for Wisconsin for cheaping out on our side of that one.
At least there are a lot of bars in downtown La Crosse.  (Every bicyclist I know is a craft beer consumer.  [Wait, can you get a DUI on a bike?])

[corco]

Oh sure, upgrade the road to Boulder. Which dumps you right into downtown. I suppose a bypass is too much to ever hope for, huh?

That's what the Foothills Parkway is for. Given that people in Boulder generally despise roads and people move there just to get away from roads, that's a more than sufficient bypass already.

[mc78andrew]

That landscape has changed quite a bit.  When I first drove it in 1994 there was pretty much nothing between Westminster and boulder.  It's always interesting to watch these booming cities of medium density try to incorporate mass transit.  At least it's not another uber expensive rail line...oh wait, they are building 4 or 5 of those too. 

[Milepost61]

Oh sure, upgrade the road to Boulder. Which dumps you right into downtown. I suppose a bypass is too much to ever hope for, huh?

That's what the Foothills Parkway is for. Given that people in Boulder generally despise roads and people move there just to get away from roads, that's a more than sufficient bypass already.

And the Boulder Turnpike does a lot more than take you to Boulder. It's 20 miles long, there's an awful lot of destinations along that length people are heading to. 50% of the time I'm on it doesn't have anything to do with Boulder.

[Mark68]

Oh sure, upgrade the road to Boulder. Which dumps you right into downtown. I suppose a bypass is too much to ever hope for, huh?

That's what the Foothills Parkway is for. Given that people in Boulder generally despise roads and people move there just to get away from roads, that's a more than sufficient bypass already.

And the Boulder Turnpike does a lot more than take you to Boulder. It's 20 miles long, there's an awful lot of destinations along that length people are heading to. 50% of the time I'm on it doesn't have anything to do with Boulder.

And technically, CO 93 from the south (Golden) is the route thru downtown. US 36 follows 28th St on the east side of town, a highly commercialized road until Diagonal Hwy (CO 119 N toward Longmont).

The last exit on the Turnpike, Baseline Rd, is only a couple of blocks east of Broadway (CO 93), but the two never actually meet. Much of the traffic to downtown Boulder and the southern areas of CU exit here.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Boulder,+CO&hl=en&ll=40.000165,-105.259945&spn=0.002912,0.005284&sll=35.084517,-106.662827&sspn=0.281504,0.937958&oq=Boul&t=h&hnear=Boulder,+Colorado&z=18

[Henry]

I think it's nice to see new hybrid freeways get built! (with the foot/bike paths, bus lanes, toll lanes, etc.)

[mgk920]

Following Big Rig Steve's latest journey, yesterday as he drove his fully loaded rig westbound on I-70 from Denver to Richfield, UT, I noticed something for the first time in the area just west of Vail, CO - just like through Glenwood Canyon, there is now a paved pedestrian/bicycle path along I-70 where it goes through that narrow gap by US 24.  Tracing father eastward, it also exists along I-70 on its west ascent to Vail Pass, including a lengthy section in the highway's 'spread' median, with construction activity for it noted in the Google aerial and streetview images.

Interestingly, checking farther, there is no indication on the latest AASHTO United States Bicycle Route map that shows any USBR corridor being developed through the mountains along I-70.  (Yes, that surprised me.)

Mike

[NE2]

Following Big Rig Steve's latest journey, yesterday as he drove his fully loaded rig westbound on I-70 from Denver to Richfield, UT, I noticed something for the first time in the area just west of Vail, CO - just like through Glenwood Canyon, there is now a paved pedestrian/bicycle path along I-70 where it goes through that narrow gap by US 24.  Tracing father eastward, it also exists along I-70 on its west ascent to Vail Pass, including a lengthy section in the highway's 'spread' median, with construction activity for it noted in the Google aerial and streetview images.

http://www.coloradodot.info/programs/bikeped/colorado-bicycling-maps/mapdetails.pdf
There is now a separate bike routing, either on (old) US 6 or a bike path, from Glenwood Springs to Loveland Pass. You still have to use I-70 in two places, east of Loveland Pass and southwest of Golden.

Interestingly, checking farther, there is no indication on the latest AASHTO United States Bicycle Route map that shows any USBR corridor being developed through the mountains along I-70.  (Yes, that surprised me.)

Perhaps USBR 70 could be moved north from its planned alignment on US 50 and what-the-hell-there's-no-road-like-that-across-southern-Utah.