WESTMINSTER — Boulder commuters like buses and bicycles, while those from Westminster and Superior tend to carpool to get from homes to jobs along busy U.S. 36.
A new survey of ways people commute along and around the 21-mile Boulder Turnpike from Interstate 25 in Adams County to Foothills Parkway in Boulder also shows that alternative modes — such as transit, walking and teleworking — are gaining in popularity.
But the survey, conducted by the nonprofit 36 Commuting Solutions, shows that old habits die hard. A vast majority of commuters making daily trips along U.S. 36 — nearly 70 percent — do so in solo fashion by car or truck.
The survey was based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Regional Transportation District, the Colorado Department of Transportation and the Denver Regional Council of Governments.
The results help show whether lobbying for alternative modes of travel is changing people’s minds about commuting, said George Gerstle, chairman of 36 Commuting Solutions.
“As part of our advocacy for multimodal transportation investments to expand community choices and to meet the projected growth in the corridor,” Gerstle said, “it is important to understand current travel use, so we know whether we are making progress.”
Crews have begun reconstructing U.S. 36 to modernize it for bus rapid transit and other new modes of travel. The 60-year-old highway handles more than 150,000 vehicle trips a day.
The breakdown of the different modes used from 2006 to 2010 by commuters living in Boulder, Louisville, Superior, Broomfield and Westminster show that:
• 69.3 percent of trips were by solo drivers.
• 8.4 percent of trips were by carpoolers/motorcyclists.
• 8.4 percent of trips were by cyclists.
• 7.6 percent of commutes were teleworkers.
• 6.2 percent of trips were by transit.
• Daily traffic volumes were higher on the east end of U.S. 36, with about 64,000 more vehicles traveling the east end of the corridor compared with the west end.
• Boulder employees had the best access to RTD Eco Passes, with twice as many Eco Passes per employee as Denver.
There were steady increases in transit, walking and telework rates, according to the survey. Boulder showed the highest rates of transit and bicycle use, while Westminster and Superior had the highest rates of carpooling.
There was also a 1 percent drop in single-occupant traffic, the survey said. While that seems minor, any reduction will help ease traffic congestion and air pollution, said the survey.
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907, mwhaley@denverpost.com or
