Rubber Curbs Added To 15th Street In Denver To Improve Cyclist Safety

DENVER (CBS4) – As the city of Denver continues to grow in population, Denver Public Works is improving the bike lanes throughout the city. Wednesday, rubber curbs were installed along the bike lane on 15th Street in downtown Denver.

Nancy Kuhn, spokeswoman for Denver Public Works, said the change would help improve cyclist safety.

"We are balancing the use of our streets for different modes of travel," Kuhn said. "(The curbs) add additional separation between bikes and cars."

The city also installed verticl signage to keep drivers out of the bike lanes and made sure drivers no longer needed to cross the bike lane in order to turn left off of 15th.

"It is nice to see improvements," said Mick Hogan, a cyclist who frequents the bike lane. "(The city is) working on it. They are getting more and more (bike lanes). I like that trails they are putting up, they are working on making it a better and safer way."

Though the additional safety precautions were welcomed by many, Hogan said he did wonder if they could make the roadway more dangerous.

"I'm not sure that the barriers here are quite correct. I feel like it will cause vehicles to hit that and bounce out of control," Hogan suggested. "(The city should) widen them, the cycle lanes."

But with the new barriers in place, Kuhn said the safety and convenience to cyclists is now greater than before.

"No matter how you are moving downtown, you got a dedicated space to get where you need to go," Kuhn said.

Denver Public Works said the next goal is to create a transit lane along 15th Street, which would give buses their own lane to travel uninterrupted.