Denver’s two-way bikeway on Broadway has been a long time coming, from a weekend demonstration with traffic cones more than eight years ago to the full 1.5-mile, traffic-separated version that debuted this month as one of the city’s premier bicycle amenities.
Even as cyclists celebrate the results of the $14.3 million project, the long-controversial lanes continue to stoke skepticism among some, including local business owners, about lost street parking spaces, traffic impacts and other concerns along the busy street.
Leaders at the Denver Bicycle Lobby, a grassroots group made up of cycling advocates, foresee a bright future for cyclists on Broadway.
“Everyone I’ve talked to is just really excited that folks can access everything on Broadway,” said June Churchill, who was given this year’s honorary title of Denver’s “Bike Mayor” by the group. They’re also gaining a new link to the Cherry Creek Trail and other parts of Denver’s growing bicycle network.
“People have been waiting for this connection to exist,” she said.
The protected lanes, built as part of the city’s Denver Moves: Broadway project, officially opened on Feb. 9, but cyclists started using them as early as January.
Still, the full impact hasn’t been seen yet because cyclists typically take to the streets in the spring, summer and fall, Churchill said.
Some Denverites continue to question if a major one-way thoroughfare like Broadway was the right place to install the new bike lane, instead of a quieter nearby street. Several entrepreneurs worry about its effect on their businesses, as well as the safety of cyclists and drivers alike as cars turning onto Broadway block the bikeway.
“I do feel like this was ultimately a bad decision,” said Adam Hodak, the owner of the L, a cocktail bar at 46 Broadway. Business owners like him “would have all said no to it,” he added about the project, “but that’s not really how it works.”
City officials kicked off the latest bike lane extension project in October 2022, but Denver began experimenting with the idea in 2015 when a pop-up demonstration happened over an early fall weekend on a repurposed vehicle traffic lane.
In 2016, a pilot bike lane allowing cycling in both directions opened along six blocks of Broadway, between Bayaud and Virginia Avenues. The next year, Denver voters approved a $937 million bond package, which allocated $12 million to Broadway multimodal improvements.
But that expansion has taken years to come to fruition.
Cost escalations and supply-chain issues during the COVID-19 pandemic — along with a need to secure more project funding — paused initial plans to begin construction in 2020 until 2022, said Nancy Kuhn, spokeswoman for the Denver Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, or DOTI.
Eight years since the initial pilot, the finished bikeway runs 1.5 miles from Center Avenue, near the Interstate 25 interchange, north to Seventh Avenue, where bicyclists can connect to the Cherry Creek Trail.
The $14.3 million cost was covered by the bond funding and part of a $9.6 million grant from the Safer Main Streets Initiative, according to DOTI. The project cost included expenses for the bike lane, signal upgrades, underground utility work and other maintenance.
City plans still call for extending the bike lane even farther north to Civic Center, allowing cyclists to reach downtown.
“But we don’t currently have money identified for design or construction,” Kuhn said.
Neighborhood advocate: “We feel much safer” on Broadway
On Monday afternoon, more than a dozen cyclists zipped up and down the new bikeway over 20 minutes — colorful Broadway storefronts on one side and, on the other, curb-like concrete barriers distancing them from traffic. Drivers pulled into the parking spots on the other side of the barriers, while pedestrians stuck to the sidewalks.
Even with plenty of cyclist-related signage, some Denverites still faced a learning curve. A parked electric scooter blocked one lane, as a skateboarder lingered in the other, mid-conversation.
One bicyclist blew through a red light, and another pedaled in the wrong lane. Although drivers creeping into the bikeway largely appeared to watch out for users, the occasional driver was forced to reverse out of the lane to avoid an oncoming scooter.
The Broadway makeover came as former Mayor Michael Hancock’s administration pushed the city’s Vision Zero plan, aiming to reach zero traffic-related deaths and serious injuries on Denver streets by 2030. That goal remains elusive, with the city counting 83 traffic deaths last year, but the Broadway and Lincoln Street corridor was identified in the plan as one of four safety focus areas with disproportionately high levels of “crashes resulting in death or serious injury.”
Before the new lane was finished, Churchill from the Bicycle Lobby — who hasn’t owned a car in six years — traversed Broadway for four blocks on an e-bike in traffic. She called it “the most terrifying experience of my life.”
As a cyclist, “there are just some roads that you just don’t go on,” she said. “As a result, you never get to access anything there unless you take a different mode of transportation.”
The longer bikeway changes that.
Churchill, 25, considers it a win for local businesses because, she reasons, cyclists are typically saddled with fewer transportation costs than drivers, leaving them with extra cash to spend on Broadway. And she hopes drivers on Broadway see cyclists using the bike lane in the coming months and think, “If they can do it, so can I.”
“Then, we’ll see cars get off the road. We’ll see Broadway become more pleasant,” Churchill said.
Broadway serves as the boundary between several Denver neighborhoods. In the area with the bike lane, Baker sits immediately to its west, while Washington Park West and Speer are to the east.
Mark Tabor, president of the Baker Historic Neighborhood Association, hasn’t received much feedback yet on the bike lane from residents. But he called it “a little more complicated” as a pedestrian to cross the street now because it requires paying attention in both directions.
Still, he’s noticed fewer bicyclists riding on the sidewalks since its opening.
“It’ll take time for everyone to get used to it,” he said, “but it’s going to be a good improvement in the long run.”
Amy Kenreich, last year’s president of the West Washington Park Neighborhood Association, pointed to “huge demand in our neighborhood” to accomplish everyday activities like errands without using cars.
Her family’s Friday evening tradition is to go out to dinner at local restaurants, often on Broadway.
“It just seems so ridiculous to drive when it’s half a mile away from our house,” she said. Now, with the extended bike lane in place, “we feel much safer walking with our kids or biking with our kids on Broadway.”
Kenreich, 44, added that she saw “a huge opportunity now to experience South Broadway in a new way” — to notice local businesses that often escape drivers traveling faster than 20 mph.
The city is planning a celebration of the extended bike lane on April 6. Denverites will meet at East Seventh Avenue and Logan Street at 11 a.m. on that Saturday to ride down the bikeway together, Kuhn said.
Others are still critical of bike lane
Taking away a traffic lane, along with some parking spots, has long caused controversy along Broadway. That hasn’t changed for some.
Kerry O’Brien, the owner of Bar 404 at 404 Broadway, appreciates the idea of the bike lane, but said: “I just don’t feel that Broadway was the spot for it.”
O’Brien, 59, sees the lane as more appropriate on a less-trafficked side street.
At Fourth Avenue and Broadway, a stop sign pauses drivers before they cross into the Baker neighborhood or turn onto the major thoroughfare. Now, he said, “it’s hard to come out of Fourth because you basically have to creep into the bicycle lane. There’s no other way of seeing the traffic.”
He also called it “a danger” for cyclists, who could hit cars blocking the bikeway or be struck by drivers. The bike lane raised “a lot of mixed emotions” among the bar’s staff members and customers, with some employees who ride their bikes to work being “all for it.” Others are annoyed by the loss of four public parking spots out front.
“There was a lot of time and energy that went into it — and money,” O’Brien said of the project. “I hope it’s worth it.”
Hodak, the L’s owner, previously commuted to work by bike for years, and said he’s “not anti-bike.” His complaints range from the impact of construction to functional problems. This winter, he’s watched as the lane’s concrete barriers “disappear in the snow” when powder builds up.
“I feel like that’s gonna cause cars to run into them, not knowing that they’re there,” said Hodak, 41. “I foresee a lot of accidents with this two-way bike lane in a massive thoroughfare for cars.”
Down the street, Isaac Greig, a restaurant manager at Postino Broadway near First Avenue, said he hadn’t noticed much of an impact on the restaurant from the bike lane.
“We’re just happy the construction is done,” he said.
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