Denver-Boulder's US 36 BRT may have been overlooked, simply because it's taking express regional bus routes and evolving them in three separate phases, into BRT. It won't really be BRT, until phase 3 is complete. Currently phase 1 is complete, phase 2 is funded and under construction and phase 3 is not funded fully or under construction. Right now, it's more like enhanced rapid bus service. Eventually it will be more like true BRT. All-in-all, the denver-Boulder BRT line is actually one of the most subtantial BRT projects in America, when looked at over all three of it's planned phases...
The US 36 BRT Denver-Boulder corridor was guided in the planning stages, by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), which is the world leader in advocating, planning and designing proper BRT lines. The ITDP held the position that optimal BRT between Denver-Boulder, would use fully dedicated BRT lanes, but that shared dedicated/managed lanes would be acceptable, especially if the highway shoulders were also used during peak times for dedicated auxiliary BRT lanes.
This concession to the plan, had to be made, in order to PAY for the project via a return in tolls collected for motorist using the dedicated managed lanes. This opens up PPP funding and financing options for securing a long term lease for a company to Operate-Finance-Build-Maintain the managed lanes.
But also, according to ITDP, there are several other main factors required to build a successful "true" BRT line.
1.) Obviously dedicated lanes are optimal--Managed lanes are acceptable & Auxiliary dedicated bus lanes utilizing highway shoulders during peak times, further mitigates the negatives of not being fully BRT dedicated lanes. US 36 BRT falls just shy of "optimal" but does comply with the alternative.
2.) True BRT should be built around a BRT spine, where most of the infrastructure is placed, including rail-like permanent stations which diverge little or none at all, from the BRT lanes. US 36 BRT is a BRT spine, with permanent, rail-like stations and even some shared transfer stations with the NW commuter rail. The stations are not optimally placed in the medium of the highway (do to high cost), but are placed right off the highway and special slip-ramps where designed and built to facilitate this.
3.) From the main BRT spine, other bus routes and smaller, city street running BRT feeder buses, should operate to feed passengers into the core BRT spine stations. Like as with bus routes feeding passengers into rail stations. yes, a forced transfer, but it makes the BRT operate and feel like a mass transit line, instead of a bus line. US 36 BRT also will accomplish this.
4.) It's also recommended that a BRT corridor be multi-modal. The US 36 BRT corridor has a bike path it's entire length, which will also serve each BRT station. And at every BRT station, there are pedestrian bridges across the highway, allowing access to/from destinations on either side of US 36. There will also be large park-n-ride facilities at several of the major BRT stations, allowing commuters to drive to the station, then take the BRT into downtown Denver Union Station, or into Downtown Boulder's large bus terminal station (or any other station along the line).
Here's Phase 2 details:
Project Boundaries
Federal Boulevard to 88th Street in Louisville/Superior.
Project Elements
The US 36 Express Lanes Project is a multimodal project led by the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), Colorado High Performance Transportation Enterprise (HPTE), and Regional Transportation District (RTD) to reconstruct 10 miles of US 36 from Federal Boulevard to 88th Street in Louisville/Superior.
The project will:
• Add an express lane in each direction of US
36 for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), High
Occupancy Vehicles (HOV) and tolled Single
Occupancy Vehicles (SOV);
• Reconstruct existing pavement on US 36 and
widen the highway to accommodate 12-foot
inside and outside shoulders;
• Replace the Wadsworth Parkway, Wadsworth
Boulevard (at 112th Avenue), and Sheridan
Boulevard bridges, and the US 36 bridges
over Lowell Boulevard and the Burlington
Northern Santa Fe Railway;
• Add BRT improvements, including new
electronic display signage at stations and bus
priority improvements at ramps. The improve-
ments also will allow buses to operate on the
shoulders of US 36 and between interchanges
to decrease bus travel time.
• Install Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)
for tolling, transit, traveler information, and
incident management;
• Install a separate commuter bikeway along
much of the corridor; and
• Improve RTD stations along the corridor,
including new canopies with enhanced
weather protection.