Director of Denver’s transportation department explains decision to change ‘finalized’ plans for protected bike lane

DENVER — The city of Denver is revising plans for a protected bike lane on 29th Avenue, near Sloan’s Lake, after nearby businesses complained about the potential impact on parking.

The new plan still calls for protected bike lanes from Tennyson Street to Zuni Street but removes the protected status from a handful of blocks between Sheridan Boulevard and Tennyson Street.

Those changes happened after the city had already publicly announced final designs, drawing frustration from many in the cycling community.

“They essentially threw us under parked cars when we thought this was a done deal,” said Amber Yandow.

Yandow and a few dozen cyclists held a rally Saturday morning, riding up and down 29th Avenue to highlight how badly safety improvements are needed there.

Near the end of the rally, Amy Ford, the executive director of Denver’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI), showed up, taking the time to meet with people one-on-one.

Ford admitted that the city could have handled the situation better, but said the changes became necessary after hearing additional community input.

“In a perfect world, our public process would have continued, and we would have shared designs as not necessarily final,” she said. “So, it was not the perfect public process, and that’s something that we own and that we want to continue to improve and something we’ll think about as to how we could do better.”

Ford said that the new design includes speed cushions and a high-visibility bike lane for the portions of 29th Avenue that will remain unprotected. She said that preserving some parking in the area was critical after hearing from homeowners and businesses, and added that she’s confident the new design will significantly improve safety along the corridor.

“The reality is, through the public process we were gathering feedback from everyone, and that feedback came out through several months,” she said. “It was important that we listened, and we put together designs that reflected that.”

June Churchill, a transportation advocate known as Denver’s current “bike mayor,” questions the precedent the late change could create moving forward.

“Now, every single time DOTI publishes a 100% design, there’s going to be a question of, ‘Is this actually final? Is this actually a final decision?’” Churchill said. “This is setting a precedent that all future bike lanes, if enough people are worried about parking, can be watered down.”