Safe Routes to School

Share Safe Routes to School on Facebook Share Safe Routes to School on Twitter Share Safe Routes to School on Linkedin Email Safe Routes to School link

Basalt Improving Safe Routes to School for Middle and Elementary School Students in Downtown Basalt

Design ideas for the project were inspired by a local Girl Scout Troupe


Background

The Town of Basalt's 2007 Two Rivers Greenway Master Plan identifies the goal of providing a safe, scenic, dual-directional road corridor (including on-road bike use), promoting connectivity, offering viable alternative transportation, and enhancing diverse passive recreational/educational activities including ADA accessible multiple non-motorized trail uses and river access.

Additionally, the Basalt 2020 Master Plan identifies the following objectives: “Create strong physical connections between neighborhoods, schools, and commercial centers, and encourage an inclusive transportation network that connects those with high mobility needs and underserved populations to key places including dense and low-income housing, schools and community facilities.”

To meet these goals, the Town of Basalt applied for and received a Safe Routes to Schools grant to help improve safety in corridors that children frequently travel to get to and from school. Based on research and real time experience implementing that grant, the Town staff realized long-term improvements would be beneficial to a .2 mile section of Two Rivers Road as it is adjacent to the Basalt Elementary and Middle Schools and provides access to shops, service businesses, restaurants, and the popular 7-Eleven gas station and store. This section of Town perfectly aligns with the Two Rivers Greenway Master Plan vision.

The Town of Basalt understood it would benefit from input from the under 13 crowd, which it was lucky enough to get through a partnership with Basalt-based Design Workshop, a design firm that does an annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.

The firm collaborated with Basalt Girl Scout Troop 17080 on their service day to gather feedback and brainstorm ways to make this section of town safer and more appealing to kids. A dozen fourth and fifth graders identified ways to enliven the area and added concepts they thought might make the area safer and more fun. (Ideas incorporated play into the streetscape, including colorful fish-themed paintings and hopscotch!)

Based on their ideas, temporary improvements were installed a few years ago that include colorful crosswalks and bollards to expand pedestrian safety areas and signal drivers to slow down.

Both the success of the temporary features and the need for improvements helped the Town of Basalt win a $573,200 grant from the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) to help fund the improvements.


Project Goals

The project will unify disparate areas of Two Rivers Road that currently are missing critical bike lane, pedestrian separation, and crosswalk connections. Improvements to the area will include upgraded or new ADA accessible sidewalks, bicycle lanes, improved signage, pedestrian and bicycle safety improvements, flashing signals, improved lighting, enhanced and safer crosswalks, and new drainage elements. In addition, it will improve parking next to a pedestrian and bicycle only bridge that provides the community access between historic downtown, the schools, and Highway 82 and major public transportation stops. Traffic calming measures will make walking and biking to school more appealing to students.

This project is being completed in partnership with the Roaring Fork School District.


The Design

Guided by the goals stated above, Town staff and the design team led by OTAK have advanced a design that addresses structural and drainage deficiencies on the Emma Bridge, improves safety for the traveling public and schoolchildren, accommodates snow-removal operations, and creates a “park-on-a-bridge” experience overlooking the Roaring Fork River. Project elements include new or upgraded ADA-accessible sidewalks, pedestrian and bicycle safety improvements, enhanced landscaping and lighting, safer crosswalks, and modernized drainage infrastructure.

In 2024 the Otak team delivered the Town preliminary design drawings for the project.


Phase 1 Construction

Stutusman-Gerbaz Earthmoving is the contractor for Phase 1 of the project. The first phase of bridge repair began in early March of 2026. Construction hours will be within the Town’s regulated times of 7am to 7pm Monday through Saturday, but will likely be limited to 7:30 to 5pm Monday through Friday for most of the project. The project is expected to take approximately 5 months to complete.

During Construction, there will be intermittent closures of the Emma Bridge. The detour route is recommended here and on signs on the bridge.

Basalt Improving Safe Routes to School for Middle and Elementary School Students in Downtown Basalt

Design ideas for the project were inspired by a local Girl Scout Troupe


Background

The Town of Basalt's 2007 Two Rivers Greenway Master Plan identifies the goal of providing a safe, scenic, dual-directional road corridor (including on-road bike use), promoting connectivity, offering viable alternative transportation, and enhancing diverse passive recreational/educational activities including ADA accessible multiple non-motorized trail uses and river access.

Additionally, the Basalt 2020 Master Plan identifies the following objectives: “Create strong physical connections between neighborhoods, schools, and commercial centers, and encourage an inclusive transportation network that connects those with high mobility needs and underserved populations to key places including dense and low-income housing, schools and community facilities.”

To meet these goals, the Town of Basalt applied for and received a Safe Routes to Schools grant to help improve safety in corridors that children frequently travel to get to and from school. Based on research and real time experience implementing that grant, the Town staff realized long-term improvements would be beneficial to a .2 mile section of Two Rivers Road as it is adjacent to the Basalt Elementary and Middle Schools and provides access to shops, service businesses, restaurants, and the popular 7-Eleven gas station and store. This section of Town perfectly aligns with the Two Rivers Greenway Master Plan vision.

The Town of Basalt understood it would benefit from input from the under 13 crowd, which it was lucky enough to get through a partnership with Basalt-based Design Workshop, a design firm that does an annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.

The firm collaborated with Basalt Girl Scout Troop 17080 on their service day to gather feedback and brainstorm ways to make this section of town safer and more appealing to kids. A dozen fourth and fifth graders identified ways to enliven the area and added concepts they thought might make the area safer and more fun. (Ideas incorporated play into the streetscape, including colorful fish-themed paintings and hopscotch!)

Based on their ideas, temporary improvements were installed a few years ago that include colorful crosswalks and bollards to expand pedestrian safety areas and signal drivers to slow down.

Both the success of the temporary features and the need for improvements helped the Town of Basalt win a $573,200 grant from the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) to help fund the improvements.


Project Goals

The project will unify disparate areas of Two Rivers Road that currently are missing critical bike lane, pedestrian separation, and crosswalk connections. Improvements to the area will include upgraded or new ADA accessible sidewalks, bicycle lanes, improved signage, pedestrian and bicycle safety improvements, flashing signals, improved lighting, enhanced and safer crosswalks, and new drainage elements. In addition, it will improve parking next to a pedestrian and bicycle only bridge that provides the community access between historic downtown, the schools, and Highway 82 and major public transportation stops. Traffic calming measures will make walking and biking to school more appealing to students.

This project is being completed in partnership with the Roaring Fork School District.


The Design

Guided by the goals stated above, Town staff and the design team led by OTAK have advanced a design that addresses structural and drainage deficiencies on the Emma Bridge, improves safety for the traveling public and schoolchildren, accommodates snow-removal operations, and creates a “park-on-a-bridge” experience overlooking the Roaring Fork River. Project elements include new or upgraded ADA-accessible sidewalks, pedestrian and bicycle safety improvements, enhanced landscaping and lighting, safer crosswalks, and modernized drainage infrastructure.

In 2024 the Otak team delivered the Town preliminary design drawings for the project.


Phase 1 Construction

Stutusman-Gerbaz Earthmoving is the contractor for Phase 1 of the project. The first phase of bridge repair began in early March of 2026. Construction hours will be within the Town’s regulated times of 7am to 7pm Monday through Saturday, but will likely be limited to 7:30 to 5pm Monday through Friday for most of the project. The project is expected to take approximately 5 months to complete.

During Construction, there will be intermittent closures of the Emma Bridge. The detour route is recommended here and on signs on the bridge.

Page last updated: 26 Mar 2026, 07:19 PM