Shared & Open Streets

Denver’s Shared and Open Streets program is working and should be continued. Keep up with our work to make people-friendly streets city-wide.

After our 2020 survey of nearly 1,500 Denver residents indicated strong support for limiting traffic on streets and opening them for people, in April the Denver Department of Transportation and Infrastructure opened 5.5 miles of Shared Streets in residential and commercial areas and an additional 10.2 miles of Open Streets in parks. In June, DOTI added 2.5 miles of additional Shared Streets.

Denverites in six areas of of the city have enjoyed the extra space to stretch their legs while maintaining appropriate physical distance. Thanks, Denver!

What We Heard from You

We conducted a community survey to find out what people like about the Shared and Open Streets, how the streets can be improved, and how people would like to see Shared and Open Streets continue as Denver emerges from the pandemic. Of the 733 people who responded to the survey, nearly 70% live on or near one of the Shared Streets; more than 85% have walked, biked, or rolled on the Shared and Open Streets; and more than 60% walk, bike or roll on these streets multiple times a week or daily.

See the full survey results here

Our initial survey of nearly 1,500 Denverites confirmed that people are walking and biking more than before the crisis and strongly desire more space for outdoor activities while maintaining physical distancing. National data shows that driving has decreased significantly. Denver has a wealth of available street space – we should continue to use it in support of public health during the crisis and after.

Survey Report

Since Denver designated East 16th Avenue in the City Park West neighborhood a Shared Street, the number of people walking and biking on the street has increased dramatically compared to previous time periods. On warmer weather days, the total number of people walking and biking ranged from about 1,000 to nearly 1,800, compared to an average of about 360 people biking per day in 2015.

Bike & Pedestrian Data

What You Need to Know

Here’s a list of resources for accessing open and shared streets in Denver.

Map of Shared & Open Streets

Got questions about biking during COVID-19? Bicycle Colorado has the answers for you.

Biking during COVID-19

Want to know what’s happening outside of Denver? NACTO (National Association of City Transportation Officials) has a list of Rapid Response Tools for cities and PedBikeInfo is tracking local actions to support walking and biking.

NACTO policies

Local actions to support walking and biking

What We Need From You

In response to continued demand from the community, Denver is extending its Shared Street initiative through the 2020-2021 winter season, providing more space for people to safely walk, bike, and roll while adhering to social distancing guidelines. In addition, they have recently installed new traffic calming configurations and materials in attempts to improve safety and function better in the winter.

If you have used these streets with the new traffic calming upgrades, the Denver Streets Partnership would like to hear from you! What do you like about the upgrades? Have they been effective at calming traffic and making the street safer? What suggestions do you have to improve on these upgrades? Provide your feedback here!

Streets with upgrades to provide feedback on:

E. 11th Ave from Logan to Humboldt Streets (west of Cheesman Park)
E. 16th Ave from Lincoln Street to City Park Esplanade
Bayaud Avenue from Sherman to Downing Streets

Take the Traffic Calming Upgrades Survey

Sign the Denver Bike Lobby’s petition to keep Shared & Open Streets around permanently.

Sign the petition

Here’s what we’ve been up to:

Shared & Open Streets Survey Results

We conducted a community survey to find out what people like about the Shared and Open Streets, how the streets can be improved, and how people would like to see Shared and Open Streets continue as Denver emerges from the pandemic. Of the 733 people who responded to the survey, 30% live on one of the Shared Streets; 39% live near one of the Shared Streets; more than 85% have walked, biked, or rolled on the Shared and Open Streets; and more than 60% walk, bike or roll on these streets multiple times a week or daily

See the full survey results

April 24, 2020 Press Release

Denver’s Shared and Open Streets program is working and should be continued as stay-at-home orders are lifted; new data released by the Denver Streets Partnership shows increase in walking and biking; Denver is a national leader in designating more street space to people.

Read the Press Release