Bicycle lanes in Denver are much more than just a nuisance for motorists, they’re a small but glaring symptom of the radical progressive mentality of Democrats that have grossly mismanaged Denver government in recent years. This is a sad reflection on Denver voters, who have brought this on themselves.
Worse than useless and ridiculously underused, they obstruct traffic and pose a safety hazard for bicyclists and pedestrians. The lanes on Broadway north of Speer Blvd. are positively laughable, repositioning cars that were parked at the curb now out into a former traffic lane and inserting the bicycle lane in its place. Vehicles making a left turn crossing that bicycle lane do so at the peril of cyclists, which can also be said of any bicycle rider in downtown Denver traffic.
The addition of bicycle lanes on four-lane thoroughfares throughout Denver has reduced them to only one lane in each direction squeezing vehicle traffic and making it worse. This is idiotic. On 16th Avenue, the bicycle lanes are accompanied by a barrier of white plastic bollards that won’t offer much protection from a weaving 5,000-pound Ford-150 pickup.
Anti-mobility
This isn’t Copenhagen where bicycles are fashionable and economical for young students. Nor is this a less-developed country where the masses who can’t afford cars clog city streets with bicycles, scooters and rickshaws. Bicycling is not desirable or practical for all but a tiny minority of commuters, especially during our cold, icy winters. In other seasons, heat and rain will make for an arduous trip to the office and a malodorous day for nearby co-workers.
On East Colfax Avenue, two of the four existing car lanes are being eliminated, leaving only one in each direction to make room for two center-running Bus-Rapid-Transit (BRT) lanes. This is a project to create a “high‑capacity transit corridor connecting downtown Denver to the Anschutz Medical Campus.” Again, fewer auto lanes and mass rapid transit will be Denver’s salvation!
Bicycle lanes, you see, are just a tiny part of a bigger picture. For years, progressives on Denver’s city council have publicly proclaimed their hatred of cars and their intent to make driving so unpleasant that motorists will avoid our fair city. And they’ve joined the progressive, enviro, elitist “New Urbanism” movement, even adopting the name: Denver Urbanism.
The movement describes its vision as “an alternative to post-WW II low-density suburban sprawl.” Instead, cities will be converted to walkable, mixed‑use, human‑scaled neighborhoods featuring compact development, transit access, diverse housing, and vibrant public spaces. Streets and buildings will be shaped around people, not cars and parking lots, thus lowering auto emissions and saving the environment.
This isn’t New York
Sure, some people will like that lifestyle. Fine for them. But this isn’t New York City. A great many people live in Colorado, including the front range, for its wide-open spaces, not the cramped confines of an inner city and the view from your apartment house window of the building next door. These enviro “visionaries” need a seeing-eye dog. Their disdain for the suburbs is at odds with the joy of people who choose to live there in a single-family-home with elbow room, a backyard for the kids and the dog, an attached garage, in a secure community, and maybe a nearby HOA swimming pool.
The NYC subway system crams millions of people together, elbow-to-elbow, in underground trains spanning the city who have no practical alternative to get work each day. Most Coloradans love their cars, pickups, and SUVs. And they avoid mass public transit by design. This is evidenced by the sparse use of RTD and the often-empty trains. We use our cars for the convenience of shopping for groceries or at the mall, for long trips to the mountains or Arizona for the winter, to visit friends and relatives, to drive to DIA (have you noticed how many cars fill its parking lots), for mom to take the kids to their soccer games, to lug your golf clubs to the course, and, ironically, lug your bicycle to a mountain trail.
Denver needs to repair its roads, not divert that money for unwanted “multi-model” transportation illusions. What with its crime, traffic, relentless leftist protestors, street people, beggars, drug addicts, soaring restaurant prices (pushed by excessive minimum wage laws), and all the negative side effects of being a sanctuary city, the last thing Denver needs to do is piss off more motorists. Automobiles aren’t going away. Most of all we love the freedom they give us. (Have you ever tried to take away Grandpa’s car keys away when he hits 80 ― or even 90!)
Longtime KOA radio talk host and columnist for the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News Mike Rosen now writes for Complete Colorado.
