Schedule for U.S. 36 Broomfield-to-Boulder bidding process April 6 — Statement of qualifications are due May 14 — Finalists selected July 10 — Request for proposals goes out Sept. 14 — Request for proposals due Oct. 31 — Contract conditionally awarded

A significant step in the long-awaited transformation of U.S. 36 took place this week as transportation planners began the hunt for a firm to design, build and operate the managed lanes planned to run the length of the highway between Denver and Boulder.

State transportation officials issued a “request for qualifications” that will lead to the selection later this year of a public-private partnership tasked with maintaining and managing dedicated high-occupancy vehicle and bus rapid transit lanes along a 24-mile stretch of the busily traveled corridor for the next 50 years.

“It’s the beginning of finishing U.S. 36,” said Kari Grant, enterprise specialist with the Colorado Department of Transportation’s High Performance Transportation Enterprise. “It will give people a choice about whether they are stuck in traffic or not.”

The $450 million highway project, which is expected to be completed by the summer of 2015, is designed to give commuters more travel choices — be it mass transit, carpooling, tolled single-occupancy travel or a dedicated bikeway. At the center of the project is a bus rapid transit system that would send buses on a frequent and reliable schedule up and down U.S. 36 in dedicated lanes.

“It will be safer, smoother and quieter,” Broomfield Transportation Manager Debra Baskett said Wednesday. “Putting the lanes in place and giving people time savings related to tolling options — I think people want options.”

U.S. 36 between Denver and Boulder handles 80,000 to 100,000 daily vehicle trips and operates at 90 percent volume capacity, according to the High Performance Transportation Enterprise. The population is expected to grow 32 percent and employment is expected to increase 47 percent along the corridor by 2035.

The $307 million segment of the highway between Pecos Street and 96th Street in Broomfield — known as Phase I — is fully funded, and construction is set to begin in April. Funding for the eight-mile Phase II stretch from 96th Street to Table Mesa Drive in Boulder, which would cost around $140 million to build and would get under way in January, has not yet been identified.

But Grant said CDOT and other stakeholders in the project, including the Regional Transportation District and municipalities along the corridor, are expected to bring money to the table, as is the bidder eventually chosen to oversee construction of the managed lanes. Transportation planners may also be able to tap federal loans for additional money, she said.

Boulder County Commissioner Will Toor is optimistic, but cautious, about the progress of Phase II.

“This is by no means a done deal at this point, but I and other local officials are very hopeful we’ll get the bus rapid transit lanes all the way up to Boulder,” he said.

Toor said he is impressed that CDOT was able to move up the schedule for implementation of improvements along the full highway corridor so that both phases of construction will end at the same time, a little more than three years from now. Initially, work on the segment between Broomfield and Boulder was planned to come later.

“It’s great news for the people of Boulder County to get the bus rapid transit and managed lanes to Boulder on a timeline that’s quicker than anyone expected,” Toor said.

Audrey DeBarros, executive director of 36 Commuting Solutions, said improvement plans along U.S. 36 have been in the works for nearly 15 years. She credits CDOT and government leaders up and down the corridor for working together to make the dream a reality.

“Knowing that the potential to complete this project all the way to Boulder could happen in the next three years is an amazing achievement,” she said.

She acknowledged that life will be difficult for U.S. 36 commuters for the next few years as earth movers and dump trucks take over the highway and lanes are shifted around work zones. But she said no one will regret the result of all that work and dislocation.

“It’s a short-term pain for a long-term gain,” DeBarros said.

Contact Camera Staff Writer John Aguilar at 303-473-1389 or aguilarj@dailycamera.com.