Laporte improvements from Wood Street to Fishback Avenue#
Multimodal improvements coming to Laporte between Wood and Fishback in summer 2024
The City of Fort Collins will restripe Laporte Ave. from Wood St. to Fishback Ave. with buffered bike lanes in summer 2024. Filling the gap in the bicycle network on this section of Laporte Ave. is a high priority recommendation in the City's Active Modes Plan.
Laporte improvements from Fishback Avenue to Sunset Street#
Project status
Upcoming milestones
- Construction between Fishback Ave. and Frey Ave. to start May 2024
- Construction between Taft Hill Rd. and Sunset St. to start October 2024 after completion of the ROW Phase.
- All construction complete in the spring of 2025.
Description and Goals#
This set of projects seeks to improve vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian safety along the Laporte Avenue corridor by addressing deficient sidewalks, adding bicycle lanes, and adding a center reversible turn lane, upgrading the roadway with curb and gutter, and other traffic improvements.
Background#
The Laporte Avenue corridor between Fishback Avenue and Sunset Street currently has several gaps in bicycle and pedestrian facilities. Many locations lack sidewalk and curbs, and the bike lanes are often narrow and not well defined. The corridor also provides access to Poudre High School and has significant bicycle and pedestrian activity with the proximity of the school and residential neighborhoods. There have been several near misses and at least one serious accident involving bicyclists and pedestrians in recent years. There are also two deficient bridges on Laporte Avenue over the New Mercer Canal, just north of Grandview Cemetery.
The project corridor is part of the City’s Low Stress Bicycle Network and is recognized by the North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization (NFRMPO) as a high priority for bicycle and pedestrian improvements.
City Staff have gathered feedback from stakeholders, including Poudre School District, nearby residents, and property/business owners. The City also held an open house in October 2019. There is widespread support for the proposed improvements.
There are two projects scheduled to complete the improvements to Laporte, the first is the Laporte Bridges Project which began construction in November 2022, and the second is the Laporte Corridor Project which begins construction in spring of 2024.
A separate project will fill the remaining gap in bicycle facilities on Laporte Ave. from Fishback Ave. to Wood St. in summer 2024. To learn more about the project, visit https://www.fcgov.com/fcmoves/current-projects and click the “Laporte Ave.” tab.
Firecracker 5k
Asphalt and temporary striping over bridges
Bridge Rocks
Bridge Footers
Setting Precast Bridge Structure
October 2019 Laporte Avenue Open House Materials#
On October 9, 2019, the City hosted a community open house to seek preliminary feedback about the Laporte Avenue redesign. Materials presented at the open house are below.
Bicycle and Pedestrian Facility Options
The Laporte Bridges Project#
The two bridges on Laporte over the New Mercer ditch just north of Grandview Cemetery are past their design lifespan and are not wide enough to accommodate additional modes of travel. The replacement of these bridges needs to happen when the irrigation canal is not running, so the City decided to make their replacement a separate project, the Laporte Bridges Project. This project will replace and widen the two bridges, and add large, separated bike and pedestrian pathways on either side of Laporte from the 7-Eleven to Stodgy Brewery.
The Laporte Corridor Project#
The Laporte Corridor Project will add safe pedestrian and bicycle facilities to Laporte Ave from Sunset St. to Fishback Ave. (excluding the replacement done during the Laporte Bridge Project). The project will also include improvements to the drainage along the corridor west of Taft Hill.
- Procure Design Consultant
-
The City has accepted proposals from several design consultants and hopes to have selected one by the end of November 2022.
- Stakeholder Engagement
-
The City and its Design Consultant will conduct outreach to stakeholders along Laporte to make sure all concerns are considered during the design phase.
- Design Phase
-
The City will develop the design for the Corridor Project with input from stakeholders.
- Contractor Procurement
-
The City will begin the competitive bid selection process for a qualified CM/GC contractor who will be responsible for building the improvements along Laporte. The contract model selected for this project delivery is Construction Manager General Contractor. This contract model allows the City to accelerate construction and improve design.
- East Segment Construction
-
Construction will begin early May. The goal is to complete this work with as little impact to the traveling public or adjacent property owners as possible.
- West Segment Construction
-
The City's contractor will begin construction of the improvements along the Laporte Corridor West of Taft Hill Rd. including adding the safe pedestrian and bicycle facilities, as well as curb, gutter, and drainage improvements.The goal of this phase of the project is to deliver the end product with as little impact to the traveling public or adjacent property owners as possible. We do not anticipate the need for extended full roadway closures during this phase.
Other Resources#
Contact#
Gunnar Hale | Project Manager | (970) 817-0456 | ghale@fcgov.com