The city of Longmont announced that $25 million from Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity, or RAISE, grant will be coupled with a $1 million state grant to improve Co. 119, beginning with the Hover Street intersection.
The federal RAISE grant program is highly competitive with requests adding up to $15 billion. However, the program only has a budget of $2.26 billion to share on national projects. When the city of Longmont applied for the grant they partnered with the city of Boulder, Boulder County, the Regional Transportation District and the Colorado Department of Transportation. The application focused on the safety at the Hover Street and Co. 119 intersection and ways to create more opportunities for sustainable multimodal transportation between Longmont and Boulder, a news release states.
The plan took 10 years to develop and four years to lobby for, the news release states.
“This grant will help to accommodate our state’s growing population as we work to develop a safer, more reliable transportation corridor between two of the fastest growing cities in Colorado — Boulder and Longmont,” said Congressman Joe Neguse, who wrote a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation in support of the project. “For years we’ve heard of the importance of improving mobility between these communities, and I am thrilled to see our hard work and collaboration come to fruition.”
The proposed improvements for the project include the construction of automobile, bicycle and pedestrian underpasses in the Boulder-bound direction of Co. 119, improvements for bus access and adding a bike path within the median of Co. 119 between Longmont and Boulder.
The project is still in the design and outreach phase which is estimated to continue through 2024 with construction estimated to begin in 2025.
“It feels like a lot of long-term transportation planning work is coming to fruition and that’s really exciting,” Transportation Planning Manager Phil Greenwald said. “Between the $25 million dollar award from the RAISE grant, a new $1 million state grant to help construct a new multimodal connection for a new transit station between the St. Vrain Greenway and the planned Coffman Street improvements north of First Avenue and being named a top 10 mid-size city for biking by People for Bike’s 2023 ‘Best Places to Bike’ — all in the same week — I’m hopeful our community can feel even more positive about our progress and potential in safely, efficiently getting around our City and region.”
The Hover Street/Co. 119 project is part of a larger project to improve safety and mobility along Co. 119. The construction costs for the entire project is estimated at $122 million, according to Boulder County. CDOT, RTD, Boulder County and the Denver Regional Council of Governments committed $91 million to the project. Those dollars are primarily focused on roadway costs and improvements to the Bus Rapid Transit system.
