The City of Longmont has announced its plan for improving the safety and connectivity of the intersection at 21st Avenue and Main Street after collecting feedback from over 1,200 community members. The new design will have raised medians to reduce vehicle turning speeds, new bike crossings, and other improvements to facilitate safer travel for pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers.
“We are starting the engineering design process this summer and that will take about a year to complete,” said Erin Provo, a senior civil engineer for the City of Longmont and the project’s manager. “During this time, we will be seeking funding opportunities for construction with the goal of starting to build the improvements in 2027.”
As part of the project, bike crossings will be added across Main Street and 21st Avenue; there will be a physical separation between bicyclists and motor vehicles at the intersection; crossing distances will be reduced for pedestrians and bicyclists; and the new layout will help drivers more easily see pedestrians and bicyclists waiting to cross the street by the intersection.
Additionally, cyclists will be able to turn left without using lanes for motor vehicles; there will be ramps at the intersection corners to make smooth transitions; the median will protect pedestrians crossing the street and reduce left-turn speeds for vehicles; and the bridge over Oligarchy Ditch will be widened to improve road alignment and signal operations.
In addition to the layout improvements, drivers will have protected left-turn arrows. Channelized right-turn lanes will be removed and right turns on red will not be allowed.
“The preliminary cost estimates are about $8 million,” Provo said. “There is a healthy contingency included in that number because we are not far enough into the design to be able to pinpoint the precise costs… If all goes smoothly, we anticipate starting construction in 2027 and the project taking about a year and half to two years to build.”
The Longmont Leader reported in January about the beginning of the study and the collection of community feedback. Driver survey respondents expressed confusion with the current street layout due to “curvy lanes, uneven surfaces, and a lack of one-way signage.” 81 percent of walking and rolling survey respondents and 79 percent of bicyclists and scooting pedestrians said crossing this intersection feels unsafe.
The announced improvements are intended to resolve these safety concerns that community members expressed during the first phase of the project.
