[BoulderCouncilHotline] Re: Biking on sidewalks rules - missing signage and unclear intent

[Brautigam, Jane]

Thanks, Sam. Aaron has raised similar questions and I have asked Transportation staff members to address them. They will be available on October 1 to discuss this with council.
Have a great weekend,
Jane

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________________________________
From: Weaver, Sam <WeaverS at bouldercolorado.gov>
Sent: Friday, September 27, 2019 8:33:21 AM
To: Brautigam, Jane <BrautigamJ at bouldercolorado.gov>; HOTLINE <HOTLINE at bouldercolorado.gov>
Subject: Biking on sidewalks rules - missing signage and unclear intent

City Manager Brautigam, fellow Council Members, and HOTLINE followers,

As long as I have been cycling in Boulder, and as long as I have been on Council, the rules for biking on sidewalks have always been expressed to me as ‘biking on sidewalks is allowed everywhere in Boulder except the downtown business district.’  In this downtown district, I encounter ‘dismount’ instructions on the sidewalks approaching the Central Business District, so the rules are clear.

After the crash last Thursday at the 38th and Marine intersection with Arapahoe involving a SUV running over a bicyclist, the Boulder PD found the cyclist to be at fault. Their findings involved a map I have never before seen: https://t.co/dcR4xGjQfO?amp=1

That map is included below and attached as a PDF.

I would like transportation staff to be available under Matters (or after public comment for their convenience) at the Oct 1 meeting to answer questions about how this map was developed, how cyclists are intended to be aware of its implementation and how signage supports cyclist knowledge that cycling on the sidewalks in these areas is against the law.

Below the included map below you will find the photos I have taken of the eastbound and westbound crosswalks at 38th St.  In my biking from Folsom to 38th on the north and south side of Arapahoe, I did not see any signage requiring me to dismount.  I had many more close calls with traffic pulling out from the curb cuts on the north side (designated multi-use path) than the south side (sidewalk) during this traverse.  Both directions I was off of the street, but traveling against traffic flow.  The cars cutting out quickly from the businesses on the north side of Arapahoe are a major cycling crash threat, since they are almost universally looking east to turn and quickly accelerate into westbound Arapahoe traffic.

I do see that the multi-use paths are called out on this map, but am very puzzled about the sidewalk designations.  The discontinuities in the legal cycling sidewalk designations on the south side of Arapahoe are seriously confusing, and signage there is totally absent.

BRC 7-5-10 (a) specifies where bicycles can use the sidewalk this way:

7-5-10. - Driving Bicycle on Sidewalk Prohibited.


  1.  No person shall drive a bicycle or use a skateboard, rollerblade, or roller ski upon and along a sidewalk except:

(1) Upon sidewalks in residential or public districts zoned RR-1, RR-2, RE, RL, RM, RMX, RH-1, RH-2, RH-3, RH-4, RH-5, MH, MU-1, MU-3 or P; or

(2) Upon sidewalks designated as paths.

(b) No person shall drive a bicycle on the mall. This subsection does not apply to an entertainer who is performing an act on a unicycle.

(c) No person shall drive a bicycle upon and along a sidewalk where such use is prohibited by a traffic control device.

Ordinance Nos. 5241 (1989); 5930 (1997); 7522 (2007)


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All the best,

Sam Weaver
Mayor Pro Tem
Boulder City Council
weavers at bouldercolorado.gov<mailto:weavers at bouldercolorado.gov>
Phone: 303-416-6130

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