​
Whether you live in Boulder, Colorado, or elsewhere, we encourage you to make streets in your community safer for getting fresh air. Safe streets don't need to be expensive, and these protective barriers aren't expensive either! There were built for less than $20 each (and could be cheaper if using wood you already have). For around the cost of a couple of beers and a meal for two at a local pub (like Mountain Sun or Southern Sun, if you're in Boulder!), you can transform your street and give it back to kids to play, dogs to fetch, and for people to walk, bike, and run! Get going and let us know if you find this useful.
​​
-
Template to help with cutting wood (2x4's) (1 page, portrait)
-
Information sheet for back of sign (1 page, landscape)
-
(This is only applicable for Boulder, feel free to steal any of the text for your own sheet)
-
Planning and placing barriers
​
Knowing how to make each barrier is useful, but you should make a plan of which street segment(s) you want to close, and how many you'll need. You don't want to block the street entirely (for fire department, delivery drivers, utilities, and local residents), you want just enough of a barrier to discourage non-essential car traffic
​
We suggest:
-
Locating them right after corners or stop signs takes advantage of slower speeds, giving drivers a chance to see the sign and start navigating the safe street appropriately.
-
Streets that act as corridors to shopping centers, parks, and trail heads are good places to put them, since there will be more foot traffic.
-
Any stretch that sees a lot of heavy two way foot traffic that forces people to walk in yards and in the street in order to maintain social distancing. (Especially these stretches that have no sidewalks at all!)
​
​
Specific tips & examples
In some cases small stretches of street can be protected resulting in a huge impact! Lower cost & wisely using geographical features will make it more successful.
-
8th Street & Dellwood Ave in North Boulder. 8th funnels neighborhood foot and bike traffic to North Boulder park, and there’s even mid-block signage on Dellwood for a pedestrian crossing. This location has all the hallmarks of enhancing people’s experience in their trip to the park.
-
Here’s another, 29th Street north of Valmont. There are lots of condos and apartments in the area and not a ton of green space. By erecting a pair of barriers (and three smaller signs at parking garage exits) you could greatly increased the common area where children can play, and adults can walk, all while maintaining access for motor vehicles.
Things to consider avoiding!
-
Avoid putting them on bus routes. Even though transporation providers have greatly reduced some routes we still want to make things easy for operators to navigate. (Buses are great!)
-
Avoid putting them on streets that don't have an easy nearby alternative for automobiles to navigate. While these aren’t closed streets but rather shared streets, we do want to encourage drivers to find another way.
-
Avoid letting there be too too much of a gap open up between protective barriers. Drivers can forget they are in a people first place and speed up, which endangers folks.
-
Already experiencing problems like that? Let your local transporation board know.
-
In Boulder, this is the Transporation Advisory Board.
-
-
​
