Boulder City Council Approves Bike Lane Expansions

The Boulder City Council on Monday June 15th, formalized its support for the expansion of bike lanes on a few of Boulder’s busiest roads with a 7-2 decision in favor of moving the project forward.

Plans to expand bike lanes on Folsom Street, Iris Avenue and 63rd Street were approved, while the proposed expansion of 55th Street bike lines was not approved, as the City Council discussed viable alternative bike routes already in place, as well as resistance from local business owners in the vicinity.

However, the bike lane expansion project has attracted controversy.

The details of the expansions include reducing four lane roads which handle upwards of 15,000 vehicles a day into two lanes, with the converted space turning into a seven foot wide bike lane, improving the safety of bikers on some of Boulder’s most traveled roads.

Opponents of the plan cited previous construction projects undertaken on these roads resulting in the closing down of multiple lanes and the subsequent traffic as a result. In addition, Boulder’s extensive bike path system has been presented as a perfectly acceptable and existing system, with some questioning the need for bike paths on the road if there already is adequate paths off road.

The approved roads will be re-painted this summer to accommodate the new lanes, and then monitored for effectiveness for the next year. On Monday June 8th, members of the public voiced their opinions on the proposals. Jim Sawyer spoke to some of those who spoke at the meeting both in support of and in opposition to the changes.

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