Boulder plans 'tall curbs' featuring local art along Baseline Road bike lanes

Oct. 24—Boulder is in the process of installing "tall curbs" to provide physical separation between the bike lane and vehicle lane on parts of Baseline Road between 30th Street and Foothills Parkway.

Baseline Road is a priority corridor that forms part of the city's Core Arterial Network.

According to a city release, tall curbs are already in use in other North American cities, such as Toronto, but Boulder will be the first city in the U.S. to implement them. The tall curbs are replacing the existing flexible white posts and striped buffers, and some of the curbs feature designs from local artist Talia Swartz Parsell, who was chosen from Boulder's mural artist roster.

"The designs are vibrant, abstract paintings that reflect Colorado's mountainous landscape along with local native flower and butterfly species," Swartz Parsell stated in the release.

"Each of the curb sections transitions from morning to night, with the color and light of each painting reflecting this change. My hope was to bring more color, vibrancy and nature back to this concrete corridor and hopefully beautify people's commute."

Installation of the curbs started Oct. 16 and is expected to be finished by the end of this week, according to Boulder spokesperson Aisha Ozaslan. Additional improvements along Baseline Road will continue through early November. Traffic impacts will be displayed on the city's Cone Zones site. More information on the project can be found at bouldercolorado.gov/baseline-project, and members of the public can give feedback at bit.ly/3FtH3jh.

Further road improvements are planned in 2024 and will take community feedback into consideration.