Slip ramps, exit ramps, and off highway park-n-rides

I’m getting a lot more opportunties to experience transit now than I have in the past, so yesterday I collected some times on the different methods of reaching the park-n-rides along US36, also known as the Boulder Turnpike.  Regional buses (the big, comfy ones) travel this route, stopping at Sheridan, 104th, Broomfield and Superior.     Currently Broomfield is the only stop left that doesn’t have a slip ramp on the exit ramp.  The buses have to exit the highway, drive across the highway, through three lights, pull in to the Park-n-Ride, wait for passengers, then repeat the process.  I was curious how much time that little detour took.   Just over 10 minutes on a good day.  Compare that to two and a half minutes on the slip ramp at the Superior Park-n-Ride.   Stand alone  slip ramps would probably be even better.   The only one I can think of is on southbound I-25 near Thornton Parkway.  I don’t often get up that way, but maybe sometime I will to see what the time is for that one.

I’m generally ok with transit taking longer than driving, I get to use that time to do something else, like write this blog, read, or sleep.  That doesn’t mean that time shouldn’t be cut down as much as possible.  When talking about buses, BRT, with center lane passenger pickup/drop off, and HOV lanes is obviously the fastest.    Most expensive as well.   Exit lane slip ramps and stand alone slip ramps make a drastic improvement on speed, with less cost.   Part of the 120th Ave flyover project is moving the Park-n-Ride next to the Broomfield Event Center and using stand alone slip ramps.  When this project is completed, and it’s still quite distant, the bus trip will be 8-10 minutes shorter.  That may not sound like much, but it may be the difference between taking a later bus and having to take one that leaves half an hour earlier.