Denver Recognized As Bicycle-Friendly Community
DENVER (CBS4)- Denver is the latest city to receive an award that is only presented to communities with strong commitments to bicycling.
The League of American Bicyclists has recognized Denver with a Silver Level Bicycle Friendly Community award. It's the second time the Mile High City has received the designation.
The award shows that Denver has a commitment to improving conditions for bicycling through investment in bicycle promotion, education programs, infrastructure and pro-bicycling policies.
More than 800 communities have applied for the designation since the program started but only 350 have been awarded.
The City of Denver said the efforts to make bicycling easier and more convenient are part of a larger goal to give residents and visitors more choices on how to get around town.
Denver Public Works announced this week that new technology will be installed at seven intersections that can detect the presence of a bicyclist to trigger a change in a traffic light.
Denver Public Works also has several other projects centered around biking that include:
- Installing 19 more miles of bike lanes and seven (7) miles of sharrows
- Delivering two more protected bike lanes downtown
- Opening a new pedestrian and bike bridge over I-25 between Colorado and Evans
- Creating the city's first neighborhood bikeway on Knox Court to prioritize bike travel and increase safety
- Implementing a new bike parking program
- Updating Denver's bike map, and
- Launching the BikeLife Cities Denver magazine
In some of the feedback provided by the League of American Bicyclists, Denver is falling short in the percentage of people biking and the size of the bike network compared to the transportation network as a whole.
Denver has 100 miles of multi-use trails and 170 miles of bike lanes and sharrows, a lane that cars share with bicycles.
About 10,000 residents ride their bicycles to work daily. Public Works said they have a plan to expand the bicycle network and the amenities that support it to entice people to pedal more.
Denver said although they are proud of the silver award, they plan to "go for the gold" designation next year.
