Colorado Springs’ love-hate bicycle relationship explained
Events such as Bike to Work Day in Colorado Springs celebrate and promote bicycle use, but there remains considerable public opposition to expanding that use.
Recently in the city, people complained enough about the location of new bike lanes that some were removed.
Several years ago, road closures and traffic congestion during a statewide cycling race angered drivers and business owners who said they lost business that day.
Last year, Bicycling.com ranked Colorado Springs as the 28th friendliest cycling city in the country — behind other Colorado cities such as Fort Collins (3), Boulder (12) and Denver (14).
Can and should Colorado Springs become more bicycle friendly? And can the relationship between cyclists, drivers and businesses improve?
Mayor John Suthers said although Denver is ranked higher, he believes Colorado Springs has a better overall quality of life.
“I think we’re doing great at providing paved trails, mountain biking and off-road recreation for bikers,” he said. “People are coming here for it. We’re still seeking ways to improve bike travel on streets and roads where bikers and riders have to share the space. It’s mainly a generational thing. Bike riders tend to be younger and drivers who don’t like biking tend to be older.”
Dana Crouse recently moved to town from Texas and suggested how the relationship between riders and drivers can improve.
“Communication is huge,” she said. “I don’t think there’s enough communication about how to be correct — for both the bike rider and the driver.”
Walter Palmer, an occasional biker, said more frequent education provided by the city would be more helpful.
“I’d like to see more bike lanes but I’m generally satisfied with the bike infrastructure and how drivers react to bikers,” he said. “I can understand why drivers are frustrated, with all the road projects and changes in traffic flow. Then you add bike lanes in certain areas and it gets to be too much.”
According to a 2017 city biking report, driver behavior or safety concerns were the top five reasons for why people said they don’t ride bikes.
