Regional Trails

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Regional Trails

The Boulder County Regional Trails program is a multi-year effort to plan, design and construct a series of eight soft-surface multi-use trails that connect communities within Boulder County. The Transportation Department focuses its trail planning and development on regional trails that are multi-use and serve as both transportation and recreational corridors.

Regional Trails CIP (PDF): a brief summary of Regional Trails needs; completed, funded and future projects; and project map.
Regional Trails Plan update (May 2006; PDF): a summary of the Regional Trails Plan and the status of listed projects.
Regional Trail Program Map - Map of existing and planned regional trails.

While most regional trails have been developed as natural surface systems, a limited number of trails are surfaced with concrete to allow for efficient use by bicycles and other alternative forms of transportation. All trails located on County Parks and Open Space properties are planned and developed by the Parks and Open Space Department.

Funding

Completion of the Regional Trails Program relies on a variety of funding sources for planning, design and construction. Boulder County, along with the cities and towns within the county, have funded many of the improvements through partnerships, federal grants and in-house work programs. Individuals and youth groups have also volunteered to construct many of the regional trail segments. In recent years, agencies within the county have been successful in securing federal and state funds to construct some of the more challenging sections of trail.

County funding for regional trails comes from a combination of Open Space funding from the Parks and Open Space Department and transportation capital improvement fund passed by voters in 2001 to fund Transportation improvements. In 2007 that fund was extended by voters and is anticipated to fund just over $10 million in regional trail improvements over the next 15 years.

Project priorities

The Boulder County Regional Trails Committee (BCRTC) was formed in October 2002. The committee consists of technical staff from the Cities of Boulder, Erie, Lafayette, Louisville, Lyons, Superior and Longmont as well as Boulder County Transportation and Parks & Open Space Departments. The committee was formed to recommend project priorities from a wide range of trail projects.

Priorities were based on three criteria:

Transportation Value (missing links, populations served, safety improvements, connects resources, alt modes benefit).
Feasibility (estimated costs, funding availability, environmental impacts, constructability).
Equitability (serve multiple jurisdictions and multiple user types)

The initial list of trail projects was presented to the public in a series of open houses held throughout the county in February 2003. An estimated 175 members of the public attended the meetings.

The final list of trail priorities to come out of the open houses included two tiers of projects: Five first-priority projects and five second-priority projects. These priorities were adopted by the Board of County Commissioners April 15th, 2003.

First Priority Projects

Coal Creek/Rock Creek Trail - Missing links in Erie, Lafayette, Louisville and Superior.
Gunbarrel/Niwot/Longmont Connections (LoBo Trail) - Missing links between Jay Road, Hwy 52 and south Longmont, making use of existing trails.
Highway 52 Bike/Ped Underpass - At 79th Street intersection.
Boulder Feeder Canal Trail - 10 miles from Lyons to Boulder (needs further study).
Union Pacific Rail Line - 9 miles from Erie to Boulder (needs further study)

Second Priority Projects

Four Mile Creek Bike/Ped Underpass - Under Diagonal Hwy and BNSF Railroad.
St. Vrain Greenway - 8 miles from Lyons to E. County Line.
East Boulder Trail - Baseline Reservoir to Teller Farms.
SH119 Bikeway - Intersection and shoulder improvements on Diagonal Hwy - Longmont to Boulder.
Callahan Property Trail - Beginning at intersection of Baseline Road and BNSF Railroad, Southwest through the Callahan property, linking to existing Louisville trail system.

Colorado Front Range Trail Project

Colorado State Parks, with support from Boulder County and other communities statewide, has embarked on an ambitious plan to create a trail from Fort Collins to Trinidad. The Colorado Front Range Trail will link existing trails systems along the Front Range with new trail corridors to create a pathway between Colorado’s burgeoning population centers. Significant portions of the trail will be located within Boulder County. Please see the Colorado State Trails web site for information on the adopted trail plan and maps.