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| Building blocks of better cycling
6-8 | Meet our supporters 9
| Our expanding education programs
10
| Stopping and safe passing
Colorado communities innovate to increase biking and walking
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en communities in Colorado are participating in a Kaiser Permanente grant program to encourage more walking and biking, and Bicycle Colorado is one group providing technical assistance for these projects. Walk and Wheel grants issued to these cities and towns are enabling them to improve infrastructure, develop plans and promote programs to encourage residents and employees to walk and bike more. No two communities are using the funds in quite the same way, allowing each to craft a program that works best for them. Here, we highlight three communities—ones you won’t yet find topping lists of bicycle-friendly cities—that are making great strides.
City of Greeley Greeley is the perfect example of how a person with a vision can help change an entire community. Eric Bracke, head traffic engineer for the city, has begun proactively working to right-size streets throughout his community. Right-sizing is generally defined as adjusting roadway capacity to be more aligned with actual demand. “As an avid cyclist I found getting around Greeley to be difficult,” says Eric. “As the traffic engineer, I have the ability to affect change to make Greeley a better biking community.” Under his leadership, the city of Greeley has transformed approximately 15 miles of streets with excess capacity into streets that better accommodate bikes and cars. According to Eric, “The founding fathers of Greeley did an exceptional job of providing very wide roadways within the city.” However, many of these four-lane roadways carry less than 8,000 automobiles per day—making them perfect candidates for retrofitted streets that can accommodate people who bike as well as people who drive.
Protected bike lane demonstration project in Greeley
Through the pavement management program, the Public Works Engineering Division has been restriping these wide roads to include a bike lane in each direction, three lanes for cars (one lane in each direction and a center turn lane) and parking.
In response to these changes, the city has so far received hundreds of compliments and only one complaint. Residents are delighted that they have great access to safe bicycling routes, can use the center lane to turn safely into their driveways and can park on the street. Additionally, Eric notes, “The right-sizing efforts have actually sparked additional enthusiasm in the bike program and we are now being encouraged to keep going and look for every opportunity.” Based on the success of these projects, Greeley is using their Kaiser Permanente funding to create a new bike plan for the city, and more right-sizing will be a major component. Currently, Greeley is ranked as a bronze-level bicycle friendly community by the League of American Bicyclists. Eric’s goal is for Greeley to move straight up to gold, skipping right over silver. In fact, Greeley’s draft bike plan is titled “Road to Gold.” Continued on page 4
Building a bicycle-friendly Colorado | bicyclecolorado.org BC_NL_FALL_2014_FINAL.indd 1
10/31/2014 2:45:06 PM