Stupid Denver Bike Tricks
A metaphor for Denver's approach to bicycles.
Denver has an undeserved reputation as a bike friendly city. Denver actually takes the distinctly unfriendly view that bikes should be confined to sidewalks. How else do you explain the growing number of "improvements" like this one?
This baffling bicycle "improvement" was constructed within the last year.
Notice that if one rides straight, one will crash into the jutting curb. This means surprised cyclists will often swerve into the traffic lane to avoid smacking into the curb. This design seems irresponsible.
This bafflingly dangerous design is becoming more common. There's another curb that suddenly juts into a bike lane at Marion & Downing. It's part of another recent "improvement" that also directs cyclists onto the sidewalk. If one is behaving as a vehicle and expecting curbs to behave as they should, these things are genuinely dangerous.
It's also worth noting that these sorts of "use sidewalk" bicycle "improvements" have other bad effects. They endanger pedestrians and put cyclists in a dangerous position when they rejoin the normal traffic flow. Also, because a Denver ordinance closes streets to cyclists when there is an alternative path, these "improvements" effectively close another section of public street to bicycles.
Denver needs an effective bike planner.
