Jay Road serves as an important connector between Boulder and Gunbarrel and sees some of the highest vehicle and bicycle volumes of any county road. Unfortunately, it also has some of the highest numbers of bicycle-vehicle crashes of any unincorporated county road. Between 2006 and 2018, two-thirds of bicycle-vehicle crashes on Jay Road are the result of conflicts between turning vehicles and cyclists traveling straight.

As part of the Transportation Department’s ongoing efforts to increase safety for all travelers, we are proposing several near-term changes to Jay Road to improve corridor safety. The following improvements will be installed this summer:

  • Between 30th and 63rd streets – striping a one-foot buffer to separate the travel lane from the shoulder.
  • Between 30th and 75th streets – applying green paint to the shoulder to highlight the shoulder and bike lane at intersections.

Jay Road is 36-feet wide between 30th and 63rd streets. Currently, the road is striped with 12-foot wide travel lanes a six-foot wide “bikeable” shoulder. We are proposing to keep the shoulders six-feet wide and stripe a one-foot wide buffer in each direction to narrow the travel lane to 11-feet wide. The edge-line stripe separating the travel lane from the buffer will be six-inches wide.

Between 63rd and 75th streets, the pavement is 30-feet wide and is striped with 11-foot wide travel lanes and four-foot wide “bikeable” shoulders. Travel lanes must be kept to a minimum of 11-feet wide, so we don’t have room for the striped buffer east of 63rd Street.

The image below shows what Jay Road will look like at intersections between 30th and 75th streets.

At intersections, we are proposing to apply green paint to highlight the “bikeable” shoulders and bike lanes up-to, and in some cases through, the intersections. In advance of the intersections, the buffers will transition to “skipped” striping to indicate that right-turning vehicles can enter the shoulder.

Take a Survey to Let Us Know Your Thoughts and Preferences

In addition to these immediate changes, we are also considering other options that may be added in the future, including rumble strips, inset LED lights, and seasonal, flexible delineator posts. Please help us understand your thoughts and tell us about your preferences by taking a short survey. The survey will be open until 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, May 20, 2018.

Other Improvements

This fall, we’ll start a Jay Road intersection improvement project to improve pedestrian safety at 30th Street, St. Croix Street, and Lonetree Court. The project includes adding pedestrian refuge islands that will help people safely cross one lane of Jay Road at a time, rather than having to find a gap in both east- and westbound traffic simultaneously. These improvements are taken from the Boulder County Mulitmodal Transportation Standards.

In addition, we are also evaluating potential changes to signal timing/phasing at intersections with traffic lights along Jay Road.

LoBo Trail “Missing Link” Alternatives Analysis

We are currently considering different trail alignments that would complete the missing link in the LoBo Trail system along Jay/Spine Road. Visit the project website to learn more.

Project Contact:

  • Andrew Barth – Communications – Email or 303-441-1032