The city of Boulder Transportation Division recently won one of the first-ever Exemplary Human Environment Initiatives awards from the Federal Highway Administration for the multi-modal transportation project on 28th Street between Baseline Road and Arapahoe Avenue.

The city of Boulder was one of eight award winners chosen from an applicant pool of 38 submittals across the nation. It was the only project in the Rocky Mountain region to be recognized.

The EHEI award program was initiated in 2007 to help facilitate the FHWA’s environmental stewardship responsibilities by recognizing effective and innovative transportation projects across the nation. One of the goals of the program is to “protect and enhance the natural environment and communities affected by highway transportation.”

The winning 28th Street project combines aesthetic and functional artistic elements with new and/or improved facilities for all modes of travel throughout the corridor, otherwise known as a “complete street.” The section of the 28th Street project, coined “Hello Boulder” through a community input process, created an attractive, efficient and progressive entry into the city of Boulder from U.S. 36.

The city contracted with Jacobs Carter Burgess to manage the public involvement and planning process for the corridor improvements.

There are some 136 roundabouts on Colorado highways that have replaced traditional signalized or signed intersections. Eighteen of these roundabouts are located on state highways, including interstate ramps, with proposals for more of them each year on both state and local roadways.

Modern roundabouts give motorists in the traffic circle the right-of-way and have simpler signing. They are smaller—generally from 100 to 230 ft in diameter, compared to 300 to 400 ft or more for traffic circles and rotaries—and they are constructed with a curved entry, slowing traffic immediately into the circle.

Modern roundabouts also increase safety. An Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study showed that fewer crashes occur at intersections with roundabouts than at intersections with stop signs or traffic signals. An analysis of 24 intersections, before and after construction of a roundabout, found a 39% overall decrease in crashes, a 76% decrease in injury-producing crashes and a reduction in fatal and incapacitating collisions of about 90%. The Federal Highway Administration notes this important fact: traditional intersections have 32 places where paths can intersect and crashes can occur; roundabouts have only eight.

The first roundabout freeway interchange in the nation was built in 1995 at the I-70 interchange in Vail Village. The next I-70 interchange roundabout construction was Avon, in 1997; five roundabouts were ultimately installed between the I-70 interchange and the Beaver Creek ski resort. The Avon Police Department recorded a 33% reduction in vehicle crashes after roundabouts replaced the signal-controlled intersections along Avon Road.

A group of industry experts is calling for more research funding to help identify unsafe dams across the U.S. The group of 25 engineers has wide representation from government, the private sector and higher education, and most are members of the U.S. Society on Dams, and the Association of State Dam Safety Officials.

The ASDSO has estimated it would cost more than $10 billion to upgrade the condition of all critical nonfederal dams—ones that pose a direct risk to human life should they fail. The American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2005 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure gave dams in the United States a grade of D, as compared to a grade of C for the nation’s bridges. Of the 78,000 dams in the United States, 10,000 have a high-hazard potential, meaning that their failure could result in loss of life or severe property damage, according to the Dam Safety and Security Act of 2003. Many of the dams at risk are located along active fault lines in California.