LONGMONT - The City of Longmont is hosting a community meeting and open house regarding new design concepts for the 21st Avenue and Main Street intersection at the Moose Lodge (2210 Pratt St., in the North Hall) on Wednesday, January 29 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
The meeting is part of the City of Longmont’s 21st Ave. and Main St. Multimodal Improvements Project, which will study the intersection in an attempt to improve its safety. The goal of the study is to identify ways in which the intersection can be redesigned in order to increase access for cyclists and pedestrians.
“While the current layout of the intersection is functional, the changes we are considering will shift the priority away from drivers,” said Erin Provo, a senior civil engineer for the City of Longmont. “All of the design options will slow down vehicles to safer speeds, give pedestrians and bikes more space and visibility, and use updated traffic signals to limit the conflicts between cars and people.”
According to the City of Longmont’s website, the project has three phases. Phase number one was to introduce the project and gather public feedback on personal experiences and ideas regarding the project, study the area, and formulate potential designs. An engagement survey was conducted last fall as part of this phase and it accumulated nearly 700 responses. 81 percent of those respondents who “walk/roll” and 79 percent who “bicycle/scoot” responded that they feel “very unsafe” or “unsafe” when crossing the intersection of 21st Ave. and Main St.
At next week’s meeting, the city will present three design concepts for the intersection and will collect opinions and ideas about the design from community members. Pizza and childcare will be provided for all attendees and Spanish language interpretation
services will be provided.
At the meeting, there will be chances for Longmont residents to speak with the traffic and transportation engineers working on the project as well as city staff. Provo said that engineers and city staff want to hear directly from Longmont citizens about the design ideas at this meeting so that their opinions about what would be most safe and functional are considered during the design process.
Phase number two of the project is to “gather public feedback on the intersection design concepts as well as the evaluation criteria that will be used to select the final design for the project.” According to Provo, the city expects to choose an intersection concept and move forward to the design phase in February. The design phase is expected to continue through the rest of 2025. Then, phase number three will be to “present the results of the design concept evaluation and the chosen intersection design.”
The timing of construction on the intersection depends on which design concept is chosen, Provo said. The goal would be to begin construction on the project in 2027, but it is dependent on when the project will receive funding.
The latest information about the project is available on the city of Longmont’s website. Starting this Friday, January 24, there will be a second survey shared on the website where citizens can provide feedback on the three design concepts the city is considering.
