Improvements underway to make Colorado Highway 119 at Airport Road safer in Longmont

The Colorado Department of Transportation is beginning work to improve a high-volume highway in Longmont.

Starting Monday morning, work will begin on the Airport Road median on CO 119/Diagonal Highway to convert the median into a permanent, one-way northbound road. Southbound travel in the median will be permanently prohibited starting at approximately 3 p.m.

This will be a one-day full closure of the Airport Road median, between northbound and southbound CO 119/Diagonal Highway, as crews prepare the area and begin safety improvements in the intersection. The median will be closed to all modes of transportation. Here are detours through the area.

• Eastbound travelers will turn right onto southbound CO 119, turn left onto 83rd Street, then turn left onto northbound CO 119. 
• Westbound travelers will turn right onto northbound CO 119, turn left onto S Fordham Street, turn left onto southbound CO 119, then turn right to continue onto Airport Road. 

During this closure, on April 13, both RTD bus stops at Airport Road and CO 119/Diagonal Highway will be temporarily closed for pedestrian safety.

Data from CDOT shows that 85% of crashes involving southbound Airport Road and CO 119 result in injury, with most occurring when vehicles attempt to turn left onto northbound CO 119. The Department says eliminating the southbound left turn onto northbound CO 119 will reduce sideswipe and rear-end crashes, remove the need for a signal and bus queue jump lane at the current stop sign-controlled intersection, therefore improving overall corridor safety and mobility.

By the year 2040, the Diagonal Highway between Boulder and Longmont is expected to see a 25% increase in vehicular traffic. Increased traffic can result in more congestion, delays, tailpipe emissions, and potentially more crashes.

The CO 119 Safety, Mobility and Bikeway Project is constructing safety, mobility, and bikeway improvements to make traveling through the corridor safer for all modes of transportation, and to make transit travel faster and more reliable. The project is designed to integrate with other active multimodal projects on the corridor to ensure community members can safely and reliably travel throughout the corridor using their preferred modes of transportation.

This project will:

• Improve safety in the whole corridor.
• Maximize the number of people able to move through the corridor.
• Maximize intersection operational efficiency.
• Improve transit travel times and increase ridership.
• Maximize corridor-wide operational efficiency.
• Increase opportunities for bicycle commuting and connectivity to the bicycle and pedestrian network.

Specific corridor improvements include:

• New signage, striping and improved signal timing at all pedestrian crossings at signalized intersections.
• Signal timing adjustments at key intersections (Jay Road, 63rd Street, Colorado Highway 52, Niwot Road and Airport Road).
• Adding a commuter bikeway and several local connections between northbound and southbound CO 119, and underpasses or overpasses at major intersections for uninterrupted crossing. 
• Physically reconfiguring the CO 52 intersection to improve safety and to accommodate new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) stations and the Diagonal Bikeway between the northbound and southbound travel lanes.
• Changing access at Airport Road and CO 119 to reduce crashes and improve safety and traffic flow.