Boulder County is one step closer to realizing a long-envisioned bike path along a popular, notorious roadway.

Nonprofit Cyclists 4 Community recently announced a $30,000 donation to the county to help pay for a feasibility study that could pave the way for a bike lane along the North Foothills Highway. That’s the stretch of U.S. 36 between Boulder and Lyons, where cyclists have long braved the slim shoulders while drivers have maneuvered for space.

The donation marks a needed contribution for the county to pay down a matching portion of a $400,000 grant intended to fund the study. In its announcement, Cyclists 4 Community said the money “can turn into tens of millions of dollars for the construction of a separated multi-use bikeway whose users will have their serious injuries and fatalities reduced to effectively zero.”

A Boulder County analysis depicts the road’s danger. A map shows the North Foothills Highway as one of the county’s highest concentrations of crashes resulting in injury or death.

Citing other studies, Cyclists 4 Community points to the highway stretch having “the state’s highest bike and auto traffic volume in Colorado without a separated bike path.”

The project figures to take years of studying and planning before several more years for construction.