Transportation Advisory Board backs Folsom Street safety plan, urges council approval

The City of Boulder Transportation Advisory Board voted unanimously June 9 to recommend that City Council approve the Folsom Street Safety Improvements Project community and environmental assessment process (SEAP) and the project’s recommended design.

The recommendation, presented by Melanie Sloan, principal project manager in the city’s Transportation and Mobility Department, would repurpose roadway space along Folsom Street from Pine Street to Colorado Avenue to add protected bike lanes, widened sidewalks, floating bus stops and protected intersections while preserving business access and existing street trees. “This is a design that’s recognized for safety improvements,” Sloan said during the meeting.

The SEAP recommendation follows a project evaluation that compared three conceptual alternatives and a community outreach program the city said reached nearly 20,000 people through 114 engagement events. City staff described the recommendation as primarily based on Alternative C, with elements from Alternatives A and B to balance safety, business access and transit operations.

Why it matters: Folsom Street is a major north–south connector serving thousands of daily multimodal trips and has a history of crashes. City staff reported 218 crashes on the corridor between 2019 and 2023, with seven resulting in serious injury and all of those involving a person walking or biking. The…