DENVER — The city of Denver has adjusted its plans for a neighborhood bikeway median installation at the intersection of Julian Street and 23rd Avenue in the Sloans Lake area, following our conversations with residents frustrated by its impact to on-street parking.
Several neighbors at the intersection live in rowhouses without garages or back alleys, and were, therefore, upset to learn that the on-street parking in front of their homes was being removed to make room for an island median.
Representatives with the Denver Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) confirm that city planners have adjusted the design of the island median, which will retain an extra two parking spaces on each side of 23rd Avenue. The purpose of the island median is to give walkers and bikers a safe place to stop while crossing the street, as well as to slow car traffic.
“It’s a dense urban area, and we know on-street parking can be hard to come by, so we were able to make that adjustment,” said Senior City Planner Paige Colton. “We really want to make it safe and comfortable to cross busier streets like West 23rd Avenue for people biking and people on scooters.”
The debate over the installation of the neighborhood bikeways designs points to larger challenges facing city planners as they work towards a more bike and pedestrian-friendly community. They are constantly weighing the interests of various residents with different primary modes of transportation, and are doing so within the framework of a city built over decades to be car centric.
“Denver, like a lot of West Coast cities, really came into its own during car dominance,” Colton said. “We have the street network that we have. It’s built for cars to go pretty fast, for people to be able to drive and not pay attention. And that’s why we have all of these conflicts, and serious injuries and deaths on our streets. And so, we have to work within the amount of space that we have to make changes, to make safety improvements for everybody.”
The neighborhood bikeways project is part of the broader “Denver Moves” plan, and will include 44 miles of new bikeways along 27 corridors throughout Denver when it is complete. It is the culmination of a two-year planning and design process, with the goal of increasing the city’s sustainability and connectivity.
We spoke to Allen Cowgill, a Sloan’s Lake resident who primarily gets around by bike. He said the bikeways have brought some tangible improvements, but he wants to see much more done to improve safety for bikers of all ages.
“99% of Denver streets are designed for people that drive — which is totally fine, most people drive,” Cowgill said. “We just want a few streets that are going to be comfortable for people that bike, and we’re really not there yet.”
Cowgill said he and other neighbors have called for the implementation of more diverters in the bikeways plan to further limit traffic. While medians and mini traffic circles have reduced speed for some drivers, he said, more limitations need to happen before he would feel comfortable letting his kids ride their bikes in the street.
“If we’re going to be a better city of multimodal transportation, it needs to be good from ages eight to 80. And we’re not there yet,” Cowgill said. “We just want one or two streets in a neighborhood to be truly for bikes, and we’re still designing these bikeways for drivers and for driver convenience in a lot of ways. We’re not making them comfortable for people that bike yet.”
City and contractor crews are now out on a regular basis for painting and construction on the N. Julian Street neighborhood bikeway project. The city expects it to be completed by the end of the spring.