Boulder County, Colo. – The Boulder County Transportation and Parks and Open Space departments, along with the City of Longmont, will open the north segment of the Longmont-to-Boulder Regional Trail on Thursday, July 14.

The trail segment is nearly three miles long and stretches from the Lefthand Valley Grange Trailhead on North 83rd Street to the North 95th Street bridge at Lefthand Creek in Longmont. Trail segment map.

“We are very excited about the completion of this section of the LoBo trail because it provides a long-awaited off-street alternative between Gunbarrel, Niwot and Longmont,” said Kristine Obendorf, Boulder County’s Regional Trails Planner.

A public ribbon-cutting ceremony with officials from Boulder County and Longmont will take place on July 14 at 4:30 p.m. at the Lefthand Valley Grange Trailhead near the corner of 83rd Street and Niwot Road.

Group bike rides from Longmont and Boulder that will meet at the Lefthand Valley Grange Trailhead for the ribbon-cutting ceremony are being organized. Information about the ride from Longmont is posted online. Contact Sue Prant at bikesue@gmail.com for information about the ride from Boulder.

The new trail crosses Lefthand Creek just north of Oxford Road using a refurbished pedestrian bridge from the City of Boulder that was part of a three-way bridge swap among Boulder County and the cities of Longmont and Boulder.

“We are happy about the partnership with Boulder County as we were able to replace a functionally obsolete bridge and replace it with a new structure that meets all current standards and allows for a trail underpass,” City of Longmont Project Manager Tom Street said.

The joint project between Boulder County and the City of Longmont includes both the bridge and trail connection and was funded by Longmont, a federal transportation grant awarded to Boulder County in 2007, and the countywide transportation sales tax approved by voters in 2001.

The majority of the land provided for the trail is either within county road right-of-way or is on county open space property purchased with Parks and Open Space sales tax funds.

The project comprises the northern most section of the planned 12-mile Longmont-to-Boulder Regional Trail that begins on the City of Boulder’s Cottonwood Trail and terminates at the Lefthand Greenway in Longmont. The LoBo Trail is primarily a soft-surface path that provides a continuous off-road link along the Diagonal Highway corridor.

Missing links at Jay Road and Lookout Road are in the planning phases as is a new connection to the Boulder Reservoir underneath the Diagonal Highway. Please visit the Boulder County Regional Trails Program webpage for more information.