Posts tagged grant
Boulder County gets lottery “star” for trail network
Nov 8th
Boulder County awarded Colorado Lottery Starburst Award for Mayhoffer-Singletree Trail
Boulder County, Colo. – The Colorado Lottery will present Boulder County with the Starburst Award for the Mayhoffer-Singletree Trail project. The ceremony will take place this Thursday, Nov. 10 at 2 p.m. at the Boulder County Courthouse in Boulder in the Commissioners’ Hearing Room.
The Starburst Awards recognize excellence in the use of lottery funds for community and conservation projects. Starburst nominations are reviewed by lottery commissioners and winning projects are chosen based on the creativity of the project, economic and social impact to the community, and whether the project achieved its goal.
In 2009 and 2010, the Boulder County Transportation and Parks and Open Space departments added 1.5 miles of new trail in eastern Boulder County near the Town of Superior that provided a tremendous opportunity for recreational trail users with the assistance of a lottery-funded Great Outdoors Colorado trails grant.
This trail extension completed a 13-mile loop trail that includes the City of Boulder’s Greenbelt Plateau, Community Ditch Trail and Cowdrey Draw trails that now connect to the Town of Superior and Boulder County trails. The project area includes the former route of the Morgul-Bismarck Loop of the Coors International Bicycle Classic from the 1980s. This new section of trail also provides a highly anticipated link to the City of Boulder Marshall-Mesa trails, the Rock Creek Trail system and the Coal Creek Trail system.
Trail users can now connect to significant open space in Boulder County, including the Southern Grasslands open space complex to the south of this trail, to the City of Boulder open space, to Eldorado State Park open space, U.S. Forest Service open space to the west, Town of Superior open space, City of Louisville open space, City of Lafayette open space and City and County of Broomfield open space to the east.
Project partners include:
- Boulder Area Trails Coalition
- Boulder County Horse Association
- Boulder County Parks and Open Space Foundation
- Boulder County Youth Corps
- Boulder Trail Runners
- City of Boulder
- Colorado Lottery
- Great Outdoors Colorado
- Town of Superior
Boulder bus and bike friendly
Sep 26th
‘Bus then Bike’ shelters open for regional commuters
Boulder County, Colo. – To make it easier for people to use the bus and their bikes, Boulder County is initiating the “Bus then Bike” program for commuters along the Diagonal Highway (119).
The county has installed a covered, secure bike shelter in both Longmont and Boulder for commuters along the Diagonal corridor who wish to use a bike to get to their final destination. The shelters, funded through a federal grant and county transportation funds, provide long-term, secure bicycle storage for commuters making connections to and from regional transit.
Bicycles and accessories can be safely stored overnight close to the bus stop, allowing commuters to avoid lugging their bike on the bus each day.
“Many people already take their bike on the bus along this corridor, which can be an inconvenience, and we want to make it easier for people to take the bus more often,” Boulder County Transportation Director George Gerstle said. “We know not everyone can take the bus all the time, but this is another example of how we are working to give more people a real choice in how they travel.”
Scott McCarey, Alternative Transportation Coordinator for Boulder County said that the program eliminates significant barriers to taking the bus. “For many people, the distance between the bus stop and their final destination is too far to walk, so this provides a convenient way to travel that final mile,” McCarey said. “And, users of the shelters never have to worry about being turned away by a bus because its bike racks or storage bins are full.”
Nataly Erving, Service Planner for RTD, said the program should reduce delays on the BOLT route. “The ability for people to park their bikes should reduce the delays caused by the loading and unloading of bikes,” she said. “Each bike that has to be loaded in the undercarriage bins takes between one and two minutes because the driver has to park the vehicle, climb out and open the bins.”
Boulder gets $$$ boost for green machines
Sep 15th
City of Boulder part of coalition receiving $500,000 grant from U.S. Department of Energy to advance electric vehicles and charging locations
The City of Boulder is part of the Colorado Clean Cities Coalition that was awarded $500,000 in grant funds under the Clean Cities Community Readiness and Planning for Plug-in Electric Vehicles and Charging Infrastructure Funding Opportunity. The grant was awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on Sept. 8, 2011.
The grant funds will be shared by multiple public and private agencies to help fund Project FEVER (Funding Electric Vehicle Expansion in the Rockies), a year-long endeavor that will overcome barriers that are impeding penetration of electric vehicles in the marketplace. FEVER is a statewide plan that will target five core areas to prepare Colorado for electric vehicles and charging infrastructure: regulatory; permitting; planning; policy; and marketing, education and outreach.
In Boulder, the grant will provide funds to:
Help establish guidelines to determine the best locations for electric vehicle (EV) charging stations;
Standardize permitting operations; and,
Create a plan for linking Boulder to other communities in a statewide EV charging network.
“By developing the next generation of automotive engineers and preparing communities for plug-in electric vehicles, these projects will help reduce our nation’s dependence on oil imports, create jobs, and help America capture the growing global market for advance vehicles,” said U.S. DOE Secretary Steven Chu.
Sixty partners have come together to support this project, and include the City of Boulder, the Colorado Governor’s Energy Office, the Colorado Department of Transportation, Xcel Energy, the Regional Air Quality Council, the City and County of Denver and several other private and public partners.
Sponsored by DOE’s Vehicle Technologies Program and administered by the American Lung Association in Colorado, the Denver Metro Clean Cities Coalition is a government-industry partnership designed to reduce petroleum consumption in the transportation sector.
For more information, contact Joe Castro, City of Boulder Facilities and Fleet manager, at castroj@bouldercolorado.gov or 303-441-3163.
