Arapahoe Street Bike Lane Ranks Seventh Among 2015 Bike Lanes

The national bike advocacy group People for Bikes is pretty much the Zagat of bike infrastructure, and they’ve rated Denver’s Arapahoe Street bike lane the seventh-best bike lane installed in the country this year.

Here’s more from the Boulder-based organization:

If only these plastic posts could talk. This one-mile project was languishing as a line on a map until the Downtown Denver Partnership business advocacy group, inspired by a trip to Copenhagen and a wave of demand for better biking among downtown tech firms, rallied public support by creating a one-day demo and leading a successful crowfunding campaign that kicked off with an anchor donation from oil company Anadarko, among others.

The $36,000 raised through Ioby.org convinced Denver leaders that the public had their back. With their green light, city staff threw themselves into Arapahoe and its couplet street with a passion, rethought their bidding process and cut the ribbon this month, less than a year after approval. Like Queens Boulevard, it’s a national model for quick-build street projects.

The protected bike lane on Arapahoe, which is parking-protected along some blocks, is easily Denver’s most complete on-street route for people on bikes — even if the city did water it down following a happy ribbon cutting.

Western Avenue in Cambridge, Massachusetts took top honors, with Salt Lake City’s innovative protected intersection coming in second. Also notable: The Fifth Street bike lane in Pueblo ranked eighth — just one spot behind Colorado’s biggest city. You can check out the full list for yourself.