April 7, 2020 — They have become Denver’s three grand walkways — unexpected auto-free zones born rather suddenly of the war against an enemy that has infected nearly 850 people in the city and felled 15 since the novel coronavirus was first detected in Colorado just over a month ago.
The street closures were put into place Saturday as a way of providing some relief to city parks that are getting heavy use from urban dwellers enduring a stay-at-home order that has been extended until at least April 30.
Jill Locantore, the executive director of the Denver Streets Partnership, helped spearhead the street closure effort after her organization found in a survey of 1,400 Denver residents that they reported walking and biking more since the pandemic hit the city last month.
She said the first three closures constitute around three miles of roadway, but more road are coming in the next few days to make other parts of the city more pedestrian-friendly as well.
“There are not enough safe spaces to walk or bike while creating that physical distance,” said Locantore, a resident of the City Park West neighborhood. “We’ve got 5,000 miles of streets in Denver. It seems like it’s not too much to ask to have this set aside for the people.”
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