Boulder transportation plan puts more than $100 million into bridges, safety and maintenance
The approved 2026-2031 program funds bridge replacement, multimodal corridors, paths, pavement and streetlights, while the next plan’s fee options and grant commitments remain unsettled.
Boulder’s approved 2026-2031 transportation program directs more than $100 million to maintenance, bridge replacement and safer connections as the city prepares a new plan with unsettled funding.
At a July 13 Transportation Advisory Board presentation, staff identified operations and maintenance as the city’s top transportation priority, followed by Vision Zero and safe-system improvements. The current program includes about $27 million in grants and averages roughly $9 million a year across ongoing programs and one-time projects.
Major projects include:
- Violet Avenue Bridge: An $8 million replacement for the city’s worst-rated bridge, an approximately 100-year-old timber structure with splitting stringers and inadequate flood-conveyance capacity. Design is scheduled through 2026, with construction expected to begin in 2027. Staff said inspections and flood-related closures, if needed, allow the bridge to remain safe to drive over.
- 30th Street from Walnut Street to the Diagonal Highway: A $9.3 million project, including $7.4 million in grants, with design and public engagement beginning in 2026 and construction anticipated in 2027-28. It is part of the Community Access Network and Safe Streets for All corridors.
- East Arapahoe from 28th to 38th streets: A $12 million multimodal-connectivity project, including $9.67 million in grants, with construction anticipated in 2027-28.
- U.S. 36 multi-use path south of J Road: A $1.17 million Vision Zero project, including $936,000 in grants, with construction anticipated in 2027.
- Folsom Bridge over Boulder Creek: About $5 million for deck replacement, with construction anticipated in 2028.
- South 30th Street from Colorado Avenue to Aurora Avenue: A $3.6 million project, including $3 million in grants, extending multimodal improvements completed near the 30th Street-Colorado Avenue underpass in 2023. Construction is anticipated in 2027-28.
The program also covers the city’s more than 80 miles of multi-use paths, about 300 centerline miles of streets and roughly 300 bridges and other structures, including about 80 retaining walls. Boulder inspects pavement every three years and aims to keep the network’s average condition rating at least 75 out of 100. Sidewalk and pedestrian work includes missing links, crossings, refuge islands, crosswalk lighting, flashing signs and pedestrian signals.
Streetlights are a newer maintenance need. Boulder acquired the system from Xcel Energy at the end of 2024 and has found corroded and damaged poles while building an inventory to prioritize repairs and replacements. The city also must replace lights attached to Xcel distribution poles as part of separating the systems.
Fee discussion will come in August
Staff told the board that the transportation maintenance fee will be part of the August presentation on the draft 2027-2032 capital program. No specific rate increase or final fee alternative was presented July 13. The fee is expected to produce about $6 million a year for recurring capital maintenance of pavement, bridges, paths and sidewalks, as well as future maintenance of markings and signs installed through mobility projects.
The city’s adopted Transportation Maintenance Fee ordinance lists annual charges of $54 per detached dwelling unit and $42 per attached or multifamily dwelling unit. Nonresidential charges vary by land-use category and floor area. The fee is tied to property and estimated transportation demand, not directly to how often an individual drives.
Snow-and-ice response is one possible expansion. An October 2025 staff report said it was outside the fee’s initial scope and would require legal review, an updated fee-nexus study and an ordinance amendment. Staff estimated that adding it could raise annual residential charges to about $60 for a detached unit and $47 for an attached or multifamily unit. The July record does not establish that those changes were recommended or approved for August.
Next plan faces uncertain costs and revenue
The 2027-2032 plan has not been presented with a total price tag or confirmed grant commitments. The existing program shows the dependence of several major projects on outside funding: grants account for most of the listed budgets for East Arapahoe, 30th Street, the U.S. 36 path and South 30th Street.
Sales tax is the transportation system’s primary funding source, staff said, so available money rises and falls with the economy. Construction-cost inflation, estimated at roughly 5% to 6% in 2026, also reduces what the same nominal revenue can buy.
Staff also raised an unresolved possibility involving the city airport. If the airport cannot secure grants or cover its needs with airport revenue, the transportation fund could become a source of support. Officials described that as dependent on future policy decisions, not a current funding commitment.
The board is scheduled to review the draft 2027-2032 program in August and is expected to make a recommendation in September. The next plan’s scope will depend on fee decisions, grant applications and sales-tax collections; none of those funding outcomes has been settled.