US 287/120th Ave Multimodal Project

Project Summary

Between March 2022 and June 2023, Broomfield in partnership with the Colorado Department of Transportation conducted the US 287/120th Avenue Multimodal Corridor Study. This study was identified as a high priority for Broomfield because the corridor serves as a primary commuter corridor within and through the community. At the time study began in March 2022, the corridor was reaching, and in some cases exceeding the number of travelers it was designed to support. Broomfield anticipates land use densification and redevelopment along the corridor in over the coming years, including the Broomfield Town Square project, increasing the number of travelers expected on the corridor. The project aimed at identifying opportunities for improvements on the corridor to ensure it continues to serve as a reliable travel route today and into the future.  The project resulted in recommendations specific improvements at a number of locations locations on the corridor that were aimed at enhancing the safety, efficiency, and comfort for the traveling public regardless of transportation mode.

The project was completed in June 2023. Since that time Broomfield has worked to identify funding to advance some of the most transformative projects identified by the study. In 2024 Broomfield, in partnership with DRCOG, applied for grant funding to conduct design for one of the major projects on the corridor. If successful with the grant application, additional information about the award will be available in the summer/fall of 2024.

Project Background

The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), in partnership with the City and County of Broomfield (Broomfield), is conducting a multimodal and safety study to develop concepts to improve the US 287/120th Avenue corridor. The project aims to understand the impact of changing traffic patterns since the completion of the 120th Avenue Connection project as well as look for ways to improve multimodal capacity and address safety.

120th Avenue is an important regional corridor that has been identified for multimodal improvements in various plans and studies. The corridor has been identified as part of the High Injury Network and a Critical Corridor by the Denver Regional Council of Governments' in the Taking Action on Vision Zero Plan, illustrating the importance of this multimodal study to find design approaches to address the known deficiencies. In addition, the corridor is identified as a potential Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor in the 2014 Northwest Area Mobility Study (NAMS) and the 2016 Broomfield Transportation Master Plan highlighting the need to study potential improvements that can support transit on the corridor.

Infrastructure gaps remain for pedestrians and bicycles that need to be addressed. Some of the pedestrian and bicycle deficiencies will be addressed as part of Broomfield’s 120th Sidewalk Infill Project in 2025, while other pedestrian and bicycle improvements are being studied as part of this effort.

CDOT and the City & County of Broomfield will look at options for improving access to transit facilities and operational improvements to increase the reliability of transit.

With a renewed emphasis and heightened awareness of safety and mobility of all users along busy corridors, including planning for vehicles, pedestrians, bicycles and transit, the US 287/120th Avenue Multimodal and Safety Study is an opportunity to create a vision and plan that recognizes the diverse needs of City and County of Broomfield residents, business owners, visitors and traveling public.

Project Location

Goals and Objectives

Join Broomfield and CDOT envision a future corridor that:

• Builds on previous City and County of Broomfield, CDOT, and RTD studies and improvement efforts to develop a comprehensive plan that improves safety, operations, and equity for all modes of travel
• Increases safety for all travelers
• Improves accessibility of multimodal transportation facilities for all ages and abilities
• Identifies multimodal transportation infrastructure gaps within the project area
• Promotes 120th Avenue as a future Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor

Public Engagement Summary

This project is a partnership between CDOT and the City and County of Broomfield. Between June and September 2022, Broomfield and CDOT sought input from the public about locations on the corridor with gaps in accessible multimodal travel options suitable for all ages and abilities, locations with safety challenges, areas on the corridor with severe traffic congestion and other travel related issues, and locations where overall multimodal options for residents needed to be improved.

The first phase of public and business engagement, along with analysis of the existing conditions data, contributed to the identification of a number of locations on the corridor requiring additional study. The project team reviewed these locations, considered the deficiencies seen in the data and the comments, and developed alternatives for the locations that sought to address issues. This phase of engagement included numerous in person opportunities at Broomfield events. The events included the Brew-Ha-Ha, National Night Out, Broomfield FISH Family Fun Day & Resource Fair, and Broomfield Days.

Phase two of engagement asked the public and businesses on the corridor to provide feedback on the conceptual alternatives through a survey. As part of phase two engagement, the project team conducted door-to-door canvassing to businesses on the corridor with hard copy versions of the alternatives preference survey. The survey was open for input May 15, 2023 through June 11, 2023.

In addition to the public engagement opportunities listed above, the project team hosted three Virtual Project Q&A Panels for business owners regarding the US 287/120th Avenue Multimodal and Safety Study project on Wednesday, September 28, 2022. During the virtual session, the project team provided a brief overview of the project, the goals and objectives for the study, as well as gave a brief overview of the upcoming alternative corridor improvement ideas.

The information collected through phase two of the public engagement helped the project team identify the solutions for the corridor recommended in the final project report.