Meeting held on sidewalk project

A public meeting was held at the Left Hand Grange last week to discuss an upcoming project in the Morton Heights neighborhood of Niwot.

The project will update and improve sidewalks around Niwot Elementary School, specifically on Morton Road, Walker Avenue and Marathon Road.

Dave Webster with the Boulder County Transportation Department led the meeting, which was attended by over 20 people.

The project somewhat started with the asphalt bicycle and pedestrian track that was laid on Morton Road last fall.

“That’s going to be a permanent part of the project,” Webster said. “It would be improved with this slightly, but for the most part it would remain in place as-is.”

He said that by using the staging lane where parents pick up and drop off kids, they can add a few feet to the outside of the track as a buffer zone to traffic.

Webster said that what has been presented so far represents 30 percent of the design, so more configuration will be done.

The project as it stand now will cost about $450,000, funded by the Capital Improvement Program, a combination of transportation sales tax and the road and bridge fund.

The work would include an eight-foot-wide multi-use concrete path on Walker Avenue. Currently the sidewalk is detached and changes grade from Morton Road north to Niwot Road.

“When we elected to do an attached sidewalk with a curb and gutter system, it was attractive for two reasons,” Webster said. “One because we can construct a larger, uniform, wider sidewalk. And it also helps with surface drainage on Walker Avenue.”

There will be a combination of inlet structure, storm sewer pipes and an open ditch that will have landscaping. This will help with runoff from the school property.

“Walker Avenue is going to have a slightly different look and feel when it’s complete over what it looks like today,” Webster said.

There will be improved corners around the area and raised crosswalks on Morton Road.

Marathon Road will be getting a new six-foot-wide concrete sidewalk, extensions of existing storm pipes and ADA ramps.

Some of the concerns expressed were that there are still school-aged kids coming from the east on Morton Road, where there is only a sidewalk on one side of the road.

“If there are no sidewalks for them to use, then how are they to supposed to get to school safely?” Webster said. “It’s a great question. We’re just not to the point of being able to address that yet. Until that happens, they’re needing to look at other alternatives.”

Those alternatives include crossing over to the north side of Morton Road before pedestrians get to the school so they can use the crosswalk once they get there — this requires crossing Morton Road twice. Another choice would be to go towards Marathon Road where there is less traffic and enter the school from that side.

Another concern raised was speeding in the neighborhood, especially on Morton Road.

“That’s always the greatest concern that folks express,” Webster said. “It’s always during the peak hours when parents are dropping off and picking up. It seems like it’s dangerous when drivers are exiting the school in a hurry and trying to get back onto Niwot Road.

“There’s only so many things you can do about that. We didn’t get into talking about speed mitigation (at the meeting). Occasionally we can send a Sheriff’s deputy up there to patrol for speeders, but it’s not like there are a whole lot of resources in their office to support that long-term.

“These are behaviors that this project wouldn’t be successful in fixing any time soon. It’s a behavior that needs to change, but a lot of those things are beyond our control.”

He said most in attendance were in support of the project, and that there were requests for other things beyond the immediate scope.

Last year the county presented a design alternative for a sidewalk that extends east on Morton Road all the way to Paiute Avenue .

“I think there were some folks hoping to hear more about that, but we weren’t presenting anything on that,” Webster said. “That’s basically been tabled for now.”

There was also talk about perimeter connectors, two from East Morton Road at Paiute to Niwot Hills Drive, and the same on east Comanche Road. He said the county would have to look at funding and obtaining easements.

“Those are conceptual plans right now,” Webster said. “We’d like to do some connector trails so people have options, whether it’s for school or just regular foot traffic.”

Webster said that the current plan is to bid out the full project by the end of this year, with work to begin in the summer of 2019.

To view the project website, click here.