Posts tagged space
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
Ma Nature to dump on Front Range
Oct 24th
Colorado weather can be unpredictable. Recent warm temperatures are forecasted to change drastically and potentially drop several inches of snow on Wednesday, Oct. 26. The City of Boulder is doing everything it can to prepare for whatever winter might have in store.
Snow removal procedures on city streets
The city’s Public Works Department has snow crews on-call 24-hours a day, seven days a week to respond to changing weather conditions. During snowstorms, there are 16 plow trucks on Boulder streets. Six of them distribute a liquid deicer, four spreader trucks distribute traction materials, and seven can distribute either. Fifteen trucks drive predetermined routes while one “floater” responds to problem areas.
Plows push the snow to the center lane where space is available. If space is not available, the snow is pushed to the side of the street. A liquid deicer is used on both streets and bike paths.
The city also applies deicing agents to streets and bridges for ice and snow control. Streets may be pretreated before a storm to reduce the build-up of snow and ice, depending on weather conditions. The liquid deicer may also be applied throughout a storm to continue melting the snow pack. Spreader trucks put down a crystallized deicer and lightweight, porous rock for traction, where needed.
Snow removal on city streets depends on the amount of snow and length of the storm, time of day, temperature and traffic conditions. Because most snow melts within a day or two in Boulder’s sunny climate and because plowing costs would increase by 200 percent, the City of Boulder does not plow residential streets. Plowing residential streets also blocks driveways and parked cars.
Sidewalk snow removal information
The Boulder Police Department recently took over the enforcement of a number of city code violations from the Public Works Department, including enforcement of the sidewalk snow removal ordinance.
The Boulder Revised Code (8-2-13) states that owners, tenants and landlords must clear their sidewalks within 24 hours after the end of a snowfall. Residents will be responsible for checking with the National Weather Service for specific snow fall completion information. Failure to remove snow before the deadline may result in a summons and/or an abatement process.
Each property will receive only one warning per snow season before the abatement process begins. A warning does not have to be issued in order for a code enforcement officer to issue a summons. Abatement includes the use of a private snow removal contractor to clear the sidewalk; the property owner will be charged a $50 administrative fee along with the contractor’s fee for removing the snow.
If a summons is issued, the maximum fine is $1,000 and 90 days in jail as determined by a municipal judge. The fine for a first-time offense is $100.
For people who are physically unable to clear snow from their sidewalks, the ICEBUSTERS program may be able to pair them with someone who can do the work for them. Volunteers are needed for this program. To volunteer or learn more, please contact the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) at 303-443-1933 or email richardvarnes@rsvp.org.
CU hosts aerospace geek event
Oct 24th
‘SPACEVISION’ CONFERENCE OCT. 27-30,
FEATURING BILL NYE, INDUSTRY LEADERS
Aerospace engineering students at the University of Colorado Boulder will host the annual Students for the Exploration and Development of Space conference, SpaceVision 2011, in Boulder Oct. 27-30.
Bill Nye, who serves as executive director of The Planetary Society and is well known for his “Bill Nye the Science Guy” TV series, will open the conference with a keynote talk Thursday night starting at 7:30 p.m. at the University Memorial Center’s Glenn Miller Ballroom. Nye’s presentation is open to the general public; tickets can be purchased for $10 each on the conference website at http://www.spacevision2011.com.
The conference, which will continue Friday through Sunday at the Millennium Hotel in Boulder, is the largest student-organized space conference in the nation. More than 300 students from around the country are expected to attend sessions exploring the future of aerospace engineering, entrepreneurship and government policy.
Other high-profile speakers will include Col. Chris Crawford, commander of the 21st Space Wing at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado; Simon “Pete” Worden (Brig. Gen., retired), director of NASA Ames Research Center; and George Nield, associate administrator for the Office of Commercial Space Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration.
Representatives of Virgin Galactic, Google, SpaceX and Southwest Research Institute also will participate in addition to primary conference sponsors Sierra Nevada Corp., Lockheed Martin, United Launch Alliance, The Space Foundation and the CU-Boulder Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences.
The general public also is invited to participate in the conference. Online registration, which starts at $50 for students (any grade) will continue through Wednesday. For more information go to http://www.spacevision2011.com.