Editor’s note: When writing the original version of this blog post, we inadvertently excluded some of the data collected by the students from our analysis. We regret this oversight and have updated the post below to include the data previously omitted, which provides a clearer picture of both the successes of Denver’s new bike facilities and opportunities for continued improvement.
In 2018, the City of Denver promised to complete 125 miles of bike lanes by 2023. A major focus of the commitment was to provide “high comfort” bikeways that would be safe and low-stress for people of all ages and abilities, particularly the 59% of Denverites who identify as “interested but concerned” about their ability to bike safely. The City’s definition of high comfort bikeways includes both protected bike lanes, which have a vertical barrier between vehicular traffic and people on bikes, and neighborhood bikeways, where traffic calming treatments reduce vehicular speeds and volumes enough to make it safe for bikes and cars to share the same street space.
Now that the City has built out many of the promised bikeways, the Denver Streets Partnership collaborated with the University of Colorado Denver College of Architecture and Planning and the City of Denver’s Department of Transportation & Infrastructure to evaluate how comfortable these new facilities actually are. Students in Professor Ken Schroepple’s Fall 2022 Planning Methods class collected data on new protected bike lanes and neighborhood bikeways in the Central Park, Congress Park, Downtown, Jefferson Park, La Alma Lincoln Park, Speer, West Highlands, and West Colfax neighborhoods.
In each of these areas, a team of three or four students documented bicycle facilities and user behaviors, and collected a minimum of 12 intercept surveys from people walking or biking along the streets. Some of their findings were promising. The students observed more than a thousand bicyclists and pedestrians using the new facilities, and survey participants expressed strong support for protected bicycle lanes or neighborhood bikeways in their neighborhoods. Of the survey respondents, 65% of neighborhood bikeway users and 76% of protected bike lane users felt their experience was either “much better” or “somewhat better” after the improvements. Other findings were less than ideal, including widespread observations of unsafe motorist behaviors such as speeding and aggressive driving, near-misses with people walking and biking, and vehicles blocking sidewalks.
125 miles of bike lanes have undoubtedly made Denver a better place to roll and walk. Vertical bike lane protection and neighborhood bikeways are so new to Denver that people are still adjusting their biking and driving habits to better use streets with these improvements. The survey data collected by the University of Colorado Denver students gives clear indication that the large majority of Denver residents appreciate the City taking steps to try to create a safer and more enjoyable street experience, but also suggests that more is needed to make these bicycle facilities truly “high comfort” for people of all ages and abilities. While a majority of people surveyed reported feeling “mostly safe/comfortable” using these facilities, only 33% of protected bike lane users and 19% of neighborhood bikeway users surveyed reported feeling “very safe/comfortable.” It’s not surprising that the more substantial and concrete the improvements, the more safe and comfortable people feel.
What is particularly concerning is the number of speeding or aggressive motorists documented on streets that are explicitly intended to be “high comfort” for all street users. Speed is the leading cause of traffic injuries and fatalities, especially in the case of driver collisions with bicyclists and pedestrians. The risk of death for a pedestrian increases dramatically with increased driver speeds. Age is also a major factor in the percentage of fatalities as well. For our oldest and youngest Denver residents, the chances of dying from a collision are even higher at these speeds than for other populations.
These findings underscore the Denver Streets Partnership’s recent call for the City to use more aggressive traffic calming treatments on neighborhood bikeways, particularly diverters, that can more effectively prevent unsafe driver behaviors. Doing so will help ensure that parents with younger children, older adults, and folks who are just learning to ride a bike or are less confident all feel comfortable using these facilities, along with more confident and experienced riders.
Where to go from here:
Thanks to the data collection efforts of these students, we have a clear snapshot of where Denver currently is and the direction it must move in order to create the streets for people that Denverites need. It is important to have clear eyes, appreciating the accomplishments Denver has achieved while also continuing to keep city leaders accountable to truly achieve a safer, more accessible city for all community members.
With the citywide election quickly approaching, you can become an informed voter by utilizing the Denver Streets Partnership’s 2023 Voter Toolkit, advocating to have your voice heard by engaging in the City’s Neighborhood Plans commenting process, and gaining new advocacy skills through the Denver Streets Partnership’s Advocacy Academy that we’ll be hosting later this year. A better and more vibrant Denver is not only possible, but well within reach with continued advocacy and community efforts to boldly challenge the status quo and transform our streets to work for all ages and abilities.
The Denver Streets Partnership appreciates the ongoing partnership with the University of Colorado’s Planning Methods class and their 2022 Bicycle Facilities Assessment. For questions or comments on the data collection or ways to get more involved in community advocacy, email our Outreach Associate, Jace, at jace@denverstreetspartnership.org.