Longmont and Boulder County officials took a ride on the city’s new Zagster bicycles Thursday afternoon to celebrate the bike-share program and the pedestrian underpass that goes under Ken Pratt Boulevard.

Longmont Transportation Planner Phil Greenwald reminded the crowd that the pedestrian underpass came about because of a death.

In 2005, a 65-year-old man was killed as he attempted to cross Ken Pratt Boulevard to reach one of the RTD bus stops. Walk signs and crosswalks were later installed.

“A person did lose their life here,” Greenwald said. “This is a safety measure so that we don’t lose any more members of the community.”

The pedestrian underpass goes underneath Ken Pratt Boulevard southwest of Hover Street, connecting the parking lots of the hotels on the north side of Ken Pratt Boulevard with the parking lot of Oskar Blues’ Homemade Liquids and Solids.

Boulder County Commissioner Elise Jones said the underpass will help people cross the intersection safely — especially Front Range Community College students.

The pedestrian underpass has been in the works between the county, the city and the Colorado Department of Transportation since 2008. The underpass and the new bike storage bus-bike shelter cost a total of $1.8 million, Project Manager Micah Zogorski said. About $1 million of that total came from a Denver Regional Council of Governments transportation grant, while the county and city roughly split the remaining $800,000 in costs.

On the Oskar Blues’ side of the underpass is one of Longmont’s new Zagster bike-share stations and a bike storage shelter. The bus-bike shelter is part of the county’s Bike-n-Ride program where cyclists can sign up at bikenride.org to receive an access card that unlocks the shelters. There is a one-time suggested donation of $25 per user so that county workers can keep the shelters clean.

The shelter on one side of the pedestrian underpass will join four others in the county — one in north Boulder, one at the Eighth and Coffman park and ride in Longmont, one at the U.S. 36 and Table Mesa station and one at the downtown Boulder bus station.

The Zagster bike-share station is one of 10 across Longmont that City Council approved last year. There are 50 Zagster bikes throughout the city that people can pay to ride — $3 per hour, $15 for a monthly membership or $60 for an annual membership.

Longmont is the third city in Colorado to deploy Zagster bikes behind Fort Collins and Westminster. Boulder uses a different service: B-Cycle.

Mayor Dennis Coombs thanked the local sponsors of the Zagster stations — Longmont United Hospital, Oskar Blues, the city of Longmont, Visit Longmont and Boulder County.

Greenwald said the bike-share program will help solve the first- and last-mile problem for people who are getting around via bus. That is, the Zagster bikes can help them get the first mile to a bus station and then the last mile to their destination.

“This is the epitome of the whole multi-modal transportation piece we laid out in Envision Longmont and our planning efforts,” Greenwald said. “We’ve got the BOLT bus behind me here, which is a regional bus, and then across the street we’ve got a stop for our local Longmont buses.”

As Greenwald mentioned the BOLT bus, one did indeed pull up to the stop behind him.

Karen Antonacci: 303-684-5226, antonaccik@times-call.com or twitter.com/ktonacci