Biking in downtown Denver is not great, but it’s gotten significantly better since I moved here. The bike lanes are more connected, those bike lanes tend to be more protected (for now, anyway), and generally the bike lanes go where I want them to go. I’m not trying to sugarcoat the work that we still have to do—our bike lanes are woefully insufficient and we absolutely need to dedicate more revenue to upgrading and expanding them—but I am interested in celebrating the progress we’ve made toward making Denver safe and sustainable. Generally these days, I can figure out how to navigate the city without too much effort and a decent amount of fear of getting crushed to death by a Chevy Suburban turning across a bike lane.
One downtown route that routinely troubles me is when 15th Street intersects with Larimer because the bike lane just… ends. There’s no signage to indicate what is happening, and the somewhat chaotic atmosphere of Larimer Square—tons of pedestrians, a loading zone, and Nature Conservancy folks trying to solicit donations from me while I’m biking—only makes the situation more stressful. Where did the bike lane go? Am I supposed to join traffic? Should I hop on the sidewalk?
Well, the answer is that I was supposed to cross from the left-hand bike lane into the right-hand bus lane a block earlier, at 15th and Lawrence! This is a bit crazy, and probably more than a bit dangerous. I know what to do now, but if you don’t ride 15th often, this can absolutely blind side you and really make your ride a lot more dangerous. After all, where else do we do this in the city? I cannot think of another place where we do something so wacky (and I’m not looking forward to the day I discover another such place), but if you can think of one please drop a comment of where it is. The city has made the intersection safer by adding a leading bike signal so you can get across the street before traffic starts, but it makes you wonder why this is the case in the first place. That signal doesn’t help much if the traffic already has a green light. Why not just extend the bike lane past Larimer?
Well, the reason appears to be the signaled, double slipway two blocks after Larimer, at 15th and Blake. Here, drivers in the left lane are forced to turn onto Blake, as 15th goes from 3 to 2 lanes, and drivers in the middle lane have the choice to go straight or turn left. This, too, is a little bananas. This is another intersection where I simply cannot think of a corollary within Denver, let alone downtown. The somewhat out-of-place and unique nature of this intersection also makes it dangerous: pedestrians may cross the turn lane when the light is green, not registering that a car in the center lane could be turning left, and imperil themselves. It’s just a bizarre use of space and a clunky solution to the problem of 3 lanes turning into 2.
So let’s fix it. We’ll start by eliminating the slipway altogether. Why add a confusing departure from the norm at a busy intersection? We should square up the intersection to make it like every other downtown intersection, which will create clarity and reduce speed. One added bonus is that the Blake Street bike lane, which cuts across the slipway, would now be square with the intersection, creating yet another safety benefit. To ensure we’re reducing from 3 to 2 lanes, the left lane will become a “Left Turn Only” and the center lane will now be forced to go straight. We’ll want to ensure adequate signage communicating that the lane ends, and we can even add some infrastructure to visibly drive the message home.
Next, we continue the bike lane from Larimer on through at least to Wazee, where the one-way street transforms into a two-way street. This will likely require the removal of some parking, but that is a sacrifice I will make (I know, very brave of me.)
What do we do with the bike lane from there? Good question, as Wazee is a wacky intersection, too; it’s where 15th goes from the one way we have been tracking to a two-way street. The best short-term solution here might be a bidirectional bike lane starting at Blake. We might consider whether 15th should be one way at all, or whether the bike lane might be better on the right side of the road. (A preliminary recommendation of the Downtown Area Plan is to convert major streets like 15th into two-way operations.)
DOTI’s current plans are, to my eye, a bit odd. They want to eliminate the crossing at Lawrence, okay, good, and extend the bike lane down to our odd slipway at Blake. Rather than eliminate those turning lanes, though, they have a single left turn transform into two left turns and have cyclists cross across the slipway, bike across the intersection and once more join the bus lane.
It’s a change, but I’m not sure it’s a massive improvement. It doesn’t address the most dangerous and confusing part of this corridor: the double slip lane.
Up at Wazee, the bike lane continues in the bus lane and another planned SE bike lane is supposed to cross onto a “Shared Use Sidewalk”. I’m glad they have a plan here, one that seems to improve the bicycling experience, and I’m not that envious of the planners that had to plan around such a funky set of streets, but I think my plan is a bit more elegant and intuitive.
By eliminating the slip way, we have a much more cohesive and recognizable bike lane, one that is safer for bikers, pedestrians, and drivers. We also end up with an odd bit of vestigial infrastructure—what I’m creatively calling the Blake Triangle. The facade of the tenantless building on the corner follows the curve of the street we just eliminated, and now instead faces a large triangle of emptiness – a plaza waiting to happen! This area could be filled with greenery and seating to create a welcoming open space, which might induce a tenant for the empty building it faces. Instead of being a confusing and irregular bit of car infrastructure that causes the end of a bike lane, it could be a place for people to enjoy and for business to thrive.
What do you think? Have you experienced this intersection before? How would you improve it? Leave a comment below on what you would do here!
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