# Commute route help . . . Broomfield - Arvada area



## Pablo (Jul 7, 2004)

I've got a new, much longer commute and need to plan out a route for a once or twice a week commute. I'm not super familiar with certain parts of the route and would love some help. 

The route is from west Longmont (where I live) to Arvada, near Ralston Road and Wadsworth (where I work). I have no problems between Longmont and north Broomfield and I'm familiar with this area. 

The first issue is getting over 36. The 287 - 36 interchange is a nightmare at first look, but there seems to be a sidewalk on the east side? Is anyone familiar with this? There also appears to be another bridge over 36 to the west near Interlocken, where I could swing through Louisville. I'm not familiar with other possible bridges nearby. I'd rather not have to swing all the way to Superior, if possible. Any thoughts?

The second issue is if anyone knows any alternate routes from Broomfield to Ralston Road and Wadsworth. 287 is a straight shot, but seems pretty busy with minimal shoulder. I'm just not familiar with alternate, nicer roads. 

Thanks for all your help.


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## morryjg (Jan 6, 2008)

This site may help you out a bit. I don't have any suggestions for you. If it was the south part of Denver I'd have all kinds of useless suggestions.


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## PDex (Mar 23, 2004)

Pablo said:


> I've got a new, much longer commute and need to plan out a route for a once or twice a week commute. I'm not super familiar with certain parts of the route and would love some help.
> 
> The route is from west Longmont (where I live) to Arvada, near Ralston Road and Wadsworth (where I work). I have no problems between Longmont and north Broomfield and I'm familiar with this area.
> 
> ...


There's a pedestrian tunnel under 36 west of Wadsworth that connects Industrial Lane on the NE side and a park at Interlocken on the SW side of the Turnpike.


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## Pablo (Jul 7, 2004)

PDex said:


> There's a pedestrian tunnel under 36 west of Wadsworth that connects Industrial Lane on the NE side and a park at Interlocken on the SW side of the Turnpike.


Snap! :thumbsup:


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## Dave_T (Nov 17, 2009)

From the underpass above I would take:

Interlocken Blvd west to Eldorado Blvd Head SW on eldorado
Turn south on interlocken loop (this is a sizeable hill) towards the airport.
When you T into Hwy128/Interlocken loop head west
Go south down Simms (Not much of a shoulder but less busy than Wads or any alternative at this time)
Head East at 100th Ave.
Turn south at independence st. Go until you hit the elementary school at westbrook park, Cut through to independence drive head South west skirting the east end of standley lake.
Link up with kipling, head south. Kipling turns into oberon, turn south on Carr.
East on Ralston to Carr.

These roads are the least busy, I used to commute from boulder to 60th and sheridan and I have tried every route and road. There is no good route but this is okay. Simms is the most dangerous but there is good pavement and a bit of a should and some bike lanes through the neigborhoods around the lake and such.


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## Pablo (Jul 7, 2004)

Dave_T said:


> From the underpass above I would take:
> 
> Interlocken Blvd west to Eldorado Blvd Head SW on eldorado
> Turn south on interlocken loop (this is a sizeable hill) towards the airport.
> ...


Interesting. I drove this route, or a similar one around Standley Lake, the other day. Do you know how may more miles it adds?


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## Dave_T (Nov 17, 2009)

I think it adds around 3 miles or so, but there is a lot of fast downhill in the south direction so I would expect it time wise to be about even on the way to work. Heading north there are some longer but not steep slogs that might slow you down a bit.

The biggest hill is right there at interlocken, if you turn on the google map terrain feature you can see it.

To put the entire ride in perspective, from my place in Boulder my total ride was 29 miles, I could do it in about 1.5-1.75 hours, the time really didn't change much when I altered any part of my route through Arvada. The reason is that the streets are such a maze there is no direct route and not really any shortcuts due to peoples houses and property.

Also, I should have said that Simms is the most dangerous road in THIS route (not of all the roads in the area) but it is still safer than Wads but YMMV. I found traffic and trucks on wads are moving so fast even the decent size shoulder makes it iffy.

Here is a google map of the approximate route i took, you could tinker around with connecting some of the paths to make it shorter possibly or at least safer.


//maps.google.com/maps?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&channel=s&hl=en&q=arvada+co&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Arvada,+CO&gl=us&ei=PNL2S6PZApO4NajHtIQI&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CCQQ8gEwAA

* replace the goofy smiley face in the middel of the url with ":" and "o" to yield *colon*official, i don't know how to turn the smileys off so its a little weird.

Safe Riding!

*Edited for clarity*


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## Chain (Dec 28, 2006)

If you don't mind a little off road for a few hundred feet you can avoid a lot of the traffic on Industrial Lane in Broomfield.

There is a little dirt path off of Hoyt Street
View attachment 201034


You can get to it on some side streets through the neighborhood.
View attachment 201035


I live pretty close to that area.


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## Pablo (Jul 7, 2004)

Chain! Coming up huge!


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## Sledgehammer03 (Mar 7, 2006)

Pablo,

If you follow Dave T's directions, you can follow 100th ave east back to Wads. From 100th south there is a wide, unused sidewalk along the west side of Wadsworth all the way to 72nd. Turn west on 72nd, back to Carr, then all the way down Carr to Ralston Rd (58th). Ralston Road suck, but you can follow the creek or 57th ave into Olde Town.


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