Say farewell to the strange bike lane-protected gutter Denver Public Works installed on Wynkoop Street in front of Union Station last year — a head-scratching piece of an otherwise good design to make the area safer for walking.

Say hello to curb-buffered bike lanes on the Union Station side between 16th and 18th streets to protect people on bikes on a hectic street where drivers typically cut them off as they pick up and drop off passengers.

On the other side of the street, a Kermit-green painted bike lane — with no physical protection — is a slight improvement over the unpainted standard lane. But it doesn’t stop drivers from parking in it and sending bicyclists back into traffic.

As Streetsblog reported earlier this year, the new design prioritizes parking over people to an extent. There’s not enough room to protect both bike lanes from traffic, or build a two-way protected bike lane on one side of the street, without removing parking spots, according to DPW.

Another little improvement: People biking west on Wynkoop toward the Cherry Creek Trail won’t have to worry about drivers treating the bike lane as a right-turn lane at the intersection of 15th Street. DPW is adding plastic posts and some paint to repel cars from the lane. DPW will add the same treatment to the eastbound bike lane at 19th and Wynkoop.

End to end, Wynkoop will have bike lanes from 15th to 19th when the project is done, probably by the end of the month.