6. Transportation
The Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan and the city’s Transportation Master Plan (TMP) have the fundamental premise that the transportation system be developed and managed in conjunction with land use, social and environmental goals. The strategies of the TMP center on maintaining and developing a balanced transportation system that supports all modes of travel, on making the system more efficient in carrying travelers, maintaining a safe system and on shifting trips away from the single-occupant vehicle.
Boulder’s challenge is to manage and improve the existing system to accommodate increasing demands for travel, both local and regional, through greater efficiency, better access, and by providing a broader range of travel choices. Important issues and trends include:
- Limited funding for both new infrastructure and maintenance of existing resources at all levels of government;
- Increasing importance of frequent and affordable regional transit
- Increasing energy costs with corresponding increases in the cost of travel.
The policies in this section support the following city and county goals related to providing a balanced, multimodal transportation system:
Transportation Master Plan
Complete Transportation System
6.01 All-Mode Transportation System
The Boulder Valley will be served by an integrated all-mode transportation system, developed cooperatively by the city and county, which will include:
- completed networks for each mode
- make safe and convenient connections between modes
- provide seamless connections between the city and county systems.
Improvements to the travel corridors network will be made in a manner that preserves or improves the capacity or efficiency of all modes and recognizes pedestrian travel as a component of all trips.
Commitment to a Walkable and Accessible City
6.02 Reduction of Single Occupancy Auto Trips
The city and county will support greater use of alternatives to single occupancy automobile travel. It is the city’s specific objective to continue progress toward ‘no long-term growth in traffic’ from 1994 levels through the year 2025 within the Boulder Valley. Both the city and county are committed to reductions in green house gas emissions. These efforts will include other communities and entities and include developing and implementing integrated travel demand management programs and new services. Within the city, new developments will be required to include travel demand management to reduce the vehicle miles traveled produced by the development.
6.03 Congestion
The city and county will strive to limit the extent and duration of congestion, defined as Level of Service (LOS) F, to 20 percent of the roadway system within the Boulder Valley while providing for increased mobility.
6.04 Regional Cooperation
The city and county will work to develop regional consensus for multimodal improvements to regional corridors, and work with the Colorado Department of Transportation and the Regional Transportation District (RTD) to develop high quality, high frequency transit service between the communities of the region and between centers of employment and housing.
6.05 Accessibility
The city and county will develop a complete all-mode transportation system that accommodates all users, including people with mobility impairments, as well as youth, older adults and low-income persons. Efforts should focus on giving people options to live well without a car and may include prioritizing affordable public transportation and transit passes.
Equitable Distribution of Resources
6.06 Mobility Services
The city and county will increase their support for mobility services for older adults and people with disabilities to reflect the expected increases in these populations.
6.07 Investment Priorities
To protect previous investments and ensure efficient use of existing travel corridors, the city and county will prioritize their investment first to maintenance and safety improvements of the existing systems. Second priority is given to capacity additions for the non-automotive modes and efficiency improvements for existing road facilities that increase levels of service without adding general purpose lanes.
6.08 Transportation Impact
Traffic impacts from a proposed development that cause unacceptable community or environmental impacts or unacceptable reduction in level of service will be mitigated. All development will be designed and built to be multimodal, pedestrian-oriented and include strategies to reduce the vehicle miles traveled generated by the development. New development will provide continuous pedestrian, bike and transit systems through the development and connect these systems to those surrounding the development. The city and county will provide tools and resources to help businesses manage employee access and mobility and support public-private partnerships, such as transportation management organizations, to facilitate these efforts.
Sustainable Business Practices
Land Use Integration
6.09 Integration with Land Use
Three intermodal centers will be developed or maintained in the downtown, Boulder Junction and on the university’s main campus as anchors to regional transit connections and as hubs for connecting pedestrian, bicycle and local transit to regional services. The land along multimodal corridors will be designated as multimodal transportation zones when transit service is provided on that corridor. In these multimodal transportation zones, the city will develop a highly connected and continuous transportation system for all modes, identify locations for mixed use and higher density development integrated with transportation functions through appropriate design, and develop parking maximums and encourage parking reductions. The city will complete missing links in the transportation grid through the use of area transportation plans and at the time of parcel redevelopment.
Variety of Activity Centers
6.10 Managing Parking Supply
Providing for vehicular parking will be considered as a component of a total access system of all modes of transportation - bicycle, pedestrian, transit and vehicular - and will be consistent with the desire to reduce single occupant vehicle travel, limit congestion, balance the use of public spaces and consider the needs of residential and commercial areas. Parking demand will be accommodated in the most efficient way possible with the minimal necessary number of new spaces. The city will promote parking reductions through parking maximums, shared parking, unbundled parking, parking districts and transportation demand management programs.
6.11 Transportation Facilities in Neighborhoods
The city and county will strive to protect and improve the quality of life within neighborhoods while developing a balanced transportation system. Improving access and safety within neighborhoods by controlling vehicle speeds or providing multi-modal connections will be given priority over vehicle mobility. The city and county will design and construct new transportation facilities to minimize noise levels. Neighborhood needs and goals will be balanced against the community benefit of a transportation improvement.
Neighborhood policies
6.12 Neighborhood Streets Connectivity
Neighborhood streets and alleys will be developed in a well connected and fine grained pattern to facilitate public access, to effectively disperse and distribute vehicle traffic and promote bike and pedestrian travel.
Air Quality
6.13 Improving Air Quality
The city and county will design the transportation system to minimize air pollution by promoting the use of non-automotive transportation modes, reducing auto traffic, encouraging the use of fuel efficient and alternative-fueled vehicles that demonstrate air pollution reductions and maintaining acceptable traffic flow.
Protection of Air Quality
The Boulder Municipal Airport will continue as a small-scale general aviation airport. The city will seek to mitigate noise, safety and other impacts of airport operation while assuring that new development in proximity will be compatible with existing and planned use of the airport.
Airport Master Plan
Last Updated on Wednesday, 20 February 2013 13:06
Introduction
