DENVER – Denver voters strongly support the city’s efforts to give more street space to people in response to the COVID-19 pandemic through initiatives including shared and open streets that the City unveiled in 2020. Voters also remain enthusiastic about making the transportation system safer and more accessible through a rapid expansion of its bicycle network, according to new survey results from Denver Streets Partnership.
In the online poll of 585 active voters, 71% approve of Denver’s COVID-19 response. 68% say the city’s “shared and open streets program,” which limited automobile traffic on certain streets and opened them for people in response to the pandemic, is a good idea. Amidst the pandemic, open streets allowed people to visit parks and neighborhood streets while maintaining physical distance from both other people and cars. The popularity was evident as these spaces saw an exponential increase in dog walkers, joggers, bicyclists and families enjoying the outdoors in a safe, car-free environment.
“The last 12 months have posed unimaginable challenges for all of us, and Denver deserves credit for successfully opening more streets for people during the pandemic while maintaining its efforts to improve safety and address sustainability by improving our transportation options,” said Denver Streets Partnership Executive Director Jill Locantore.
Nearly 8-of-10 respondents (79%) support Mayor Michael Hancock’s goal of creating 125 miles of dedicated bike lanes by 2024. This includes white (82% support), Hispanic (72% support) and African American (75% support) respondents. These results were nearly identical to a January 2020 poll.
“Denver’s Mobility Plan to make it safer and easier to get around the city by creating new dedicated bike lanes continues to find strong support from voters all across Denver,” said pollster Chris Keating.
Among other findings, there is majority support for increasing dedicated bike lanes:
- 65% supported increasing dedicated bike lanes, even if it means taking on street parking spaces (up 4% from a 2020 poll).
- 61% supported increasing dedicated bike lanes, even if it means removing one driving lane on some roads with multiple lanes.
People who ride bikes also feel safer. Among those who had ridden a bike in the last year, 21% said they felt “very safe” (a 10-point increase from 2020) and 52% felt “somewhat safe.” Overall, 73% (3-of-4 bike riders) said they feel safe riding a bike in Denver.
Dedicated bike lanes are viewed as a key ingredient to making Denver’s streets safer, with 80% of respondents agreeing that dedicated bike lanes increase safety and reduce stress for everyone on the roads. Seventy nine percent (79%) agreed that having dedicated bike lanes to separate bikes from cars makes the streets safer for everyone.
“Denver’s efforts to make streets safer for people — whether they’re on a bike, on foot or in a car — are among the most ambitious and successful in the country,” said Kyle Wagenschutz, Vice President of Local Innovation with PeopleForBikes, a national organization committed to empowering cities to get more people on bikes. “With a record 40 new miles last year, the city doubled its pace of construction and continues to stand out among cities working to make its streets safer and its transportation more sustainable.”
About the poll: The poll results are based on an online survey of 585 active voters in Denver, conducted by Keating Research from February 8-15, 2021. For this sample of 585 respondents, the worst-case margin of error at the 95% level is plus or minus 4.1%.
Denver Mobility Poll February 2021 – Topline Results (PDF)
###