The Mobility Edition April 2018
Each year thousands of commuters, businesses and residents use Greeley’s transportation system. The City’s Public Works Department spends $10-$20 million annually ensuring the integrity of our streets and there is still much more work to be done. This special four-page section examines the work accomplished and needed to build and maintain a complete, safe, efficient, and quality transportation system. The following pages provide brief descriptions of three major Greeley mobility and transportation projects and a look ahead at planned, but unfunded, projects in the coming years.
Aligning Budget Priorities with Citizen Input Governance
Infrastructure
Public Safety
Well-Planned & Livable Community
Natural Resource Use
Recreational, Cultural, and Educational Opportunities
Economic Vitality
Infrastructure Repair & Improvements 20th Street Growth and development along west 20th Street from 71st Avenue to 83rd Avenue reached a point where that stretch of road had deteriorated and required an upgrade from its outdated two-lane county road status. The City took the old, undersized rural road and widened it to a four-lane arterial roadway. The project added left and right turn lanes from 74th to 83rd Avenue, street lighting, detached sidewalks, curbs and gutters, storm sewers, bike lanes, and raised center medians along the corridor. Additionally, the road work improved vehicle sight distance at the 82nd Avenue intersection to improve safety. This very large $6-million project was finished ahead of schedule and gave drivers and pedestrians a safer roadway. In 2018 the same section of 20th Street will be connected to the Sheep Draw Trail for more mobility and connectivity options.
65th Avenue Working together in 2016, the cities of Greeley and Evans began the task of improving 65th Avenue. Now complete, Greeley’s portion of the project expanded the two-lane county road to a four-lane urban roadway. A CDOT grant paid a portion of the $5.5-million project price tag and made the cost of the project feasible for Greeley. Greeley’s improvements, from U.S. 34 to 34th Street Road added LED streetlights, a new traffic signal at 29th Street, detached sidewalks, new curbs and gutters, storm sewers, concrete bike lanes and raised center medians. These additions greatly improved the appearance and safety of this regional corridor connecting north and south Greeley. The City of Evans is currently working on the south portion of 65th Avenue including continuation of the widened road and a new bridge over Ashcroft Draw.
71st Avenue Construction is underway to expand 71st Avenue in an effort to reduce congestion, increase safety, and improve pavement condition. This $8-million project will add center and right-turn lanes, bike paths, detached sidewalks and more. The project will also completely replace the Sheep Draw Bridge south of 12th Street, which will allow for the future expansion of Sheep Draw Trail as it passes under the bridge. Originally a county road, 71st Avenue has begun to deteriorate with age. Sheep Draw Bridge–although still safe for use–is one of Greeley’s lowest-rated bridges. The 71st Avenue expansion project will replace an aging road and bridge, greatly improve the safety of an important Greeley roadway, and provide a connection to an expanding trail system. With the nearby grocery store, schools and the continued expansion of residential development in west Greeley, 71st Avenue will see growing use by all transportation modes–bus, bicycle, pedestrian, vehicular–during the next few years.
Infrastructure Challenges Interchanges To ensure drivers can efficiently and safely navigate the local highways, Greeley needs to partner with CDOT to develop and build more highway interchanges. Interchanges–where one road passes above or below the other–keep traffic moving on busy arterial roads and support the economic growth of the region. Interchanges are a current and pressing need in Greeley to reduce congestion and improve pedestrian mobility across U.S. 34. Greeley has nine major unfunded interchange projects identified in its five-year capital improvement plan. To complete all these projects would cost an estimated $229 million. Some, such as the U.S. 34 and 35th Avenue interchange, would cost about $30 million. Larger intersections, like the U.S. 34 and U.S. 85 interchange, could cost as much as $120 million. Although CDOT might partner with the City on these projects, each still represents a large cost. By partnering with the state, these projects stand a better chance of becoming a higher funding priority for CDOT.
Traffic Signals Greeley is growing and what were once small and infrequently-used intersections are getting much busier and sometimes more dangerous. Traffic signals at numerous intersections will help guide and protect drivers and pedestrians in our growing city. The City has seven unfunded traffic signal projects identified in its five-year capital improvement plan. These projects target specific intersections around the outskirts of Greeley where increasing traffic, and growing safety concerns, have shown a need for improved traffic control. In total, all seven would cost approximately $6 million. Several of these unfunded projects would add traffic signals and intersections improvements along O Street near Greeley’s northern border. Two more of these projects would install traffic signals on Promontory Parkway at 10th Street and at U.S. 34 bypass.
Capacity Greeley streets can get quite crowded. People want to live, work, play and go to school here. The City’s roads need expansion and improvement to handle all that traffic. The $8-million 71st Avenue expansion project is underway this year and in three years the City plans to expand 35th Avenue as well. Slated to cost $9 million, the 35th Avenue project will widen a rural twolane road, add on-street bike lanes, curbs, gutters, sidewalks, a traffic signal at “C” Street and landscaped medians. Projects like these, as well as others including transit, are essential to support not only the residential needs of the city but Greeley’s economic growth. Businesses need to ensure their products, workers, and customers can efficiently and smoothly get to and from their locations.
Resident Input Indicates Three High Priority Funding Areas In various surveys and public input opportunities, Greeley residents named Public Safety, Mobility/ Transportation, and Parks/Open Space as key areas for allocating city of Greeley resources. Residents’ requests and priorities are outlined below.
Public Safety RESIDENT REQUEST PRIORITY Varied forms of public input have made clear that Greeley residents want public safety to be addressed and prioritized in local government efforts; the 2017 resident survey, the Imagine Greeley Comprehensive Plan update process, and the 2016 Weld County Community Health Survey all showed resident concern about public safety. Greeley City Council has targeted public safety as one of its top priorities for several years.
Mobility/Transportation RESIDENT REQUEST PRIORITY Residents keep ranking road capacity improvements, reduction of congestion, and bikes lanes and pedestrian improvements as high priorities; even with the 2015 voter approval of the Keep Greeley Moving sales tax to repair roads. Greeley’s residents still say they want more and better mobility infrastructure. PRIORITY Greeley-Evans Transit’s bus services continue to see increasing numbers of users with more than 750,000 rides provided annually, including an 8.4 percent increase in ridership in 2016 and a 16.7 percent increase in 2017.
Parks/Open Space RESIDENT REQUEST
PRIORITY In a two-year parks, trails and open lands public input process, Greeley residents indicated they appreciated recreational areas that provide for a number of outdoor programs in urban areas; that same comprehensive process allowed residents to make clear how much the Greeley community values open spaces that buffer residential and business communities while providing wildlife habitat and further recreational opportunities. PRIORITY Residents also prioritized the construction of better sidewalks, trails, neighborhood parks, and more.
We Aspire to be a City Achieving Community Excellence Morayma Cruz Aviles Morayma.CruzAviles@Greeleygov.com 970-350-9723
Additional info can be found at
GREELEYGOV.COM/FINANCE
Victoria Runkle Victoria.Runkle@Greeleygov.com 970-350-9730