Life in the slow lane
Opportunity and frustrations for cycling infrastructure in Durango

About this time last year, Bike Durango (myself and my co-director) applied for a grant from the national bicycle advocacy organization PeopleForBikes. The grant would help fund a project to build removable, temporary bike lanes around Durango with the purpose of demonstrating what a protected bike lane feels like and how they could be implemented into our community. (Currently, Durango has zero dedicated protected bike lanes.) I remember the day I got the email we had received the grant. I was, ironically, sitting in yet another City meeting, participating in a discussion of another infrastructure project fighting the people, again, who want more parking, when I saw my phone light up with the subject line: “Congratulations on Your Successful PeopleForBikes Community Grant.” 

I cried happy tears in public because thus far, my attempts to convince anyone that safe bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure in Durango is needed has been like pulling my hair, teeth and nails out. It seems like parking is more important than anything else. Parking, however, is not actually what we need. 

What we need is for cyclists and pedestrians to have a safe way to get around. According to Durango’s 2023 Multimodal Plan, 40 pedestrians and 30 cyclists were hit by motor vehicles between the years of 2016-21 in city limits. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported 1,105 bicyclists in the U.S. were killed by a motor vehicle in 2022 – the highest number ever recorded (2023 stats have yet to be released). More people are getting hit, injured and killed by vehicles every year (yet no one has ever died from lack of parking). While, at a national level, we are starting to take steps toward better infrastructure, at a local level, there is work to be done. 

That is why Bike Durango decided to try out a demonstration protected bike lane – a “pop up” if you will. After we received the grant, bought the removable bike lane delineators (called “The Wave” and made by Saris, if you’re interested), we made a plan to build the temporary bike lane on E. 2nd Avenue between 14th and 15th streets. The idea was to provide a safe connection between the Animas River Trail and downtown Durango. 

My co-director and I spent all afternoon one day in late October setting up the temporary delineators, posting signs, setting up traffic cones and making the bike lane easy to understand for cyclists and drivers. The pop-up bike lane was permitted to stay up for one week, and in that time, the hope was to have as many people as possible test out the lane. 

When the test was over and the bike lane disassembled and put back in the garage, we sent out a survey asking about users’ experiences. We received 21 responses, and about 93% said they were either nervous, scared or very scared to ride their bikes in areas of Durango that are not protected (pretty much everywhere but the ART). All 21 said they felt better riding in the protected bike lane (86% felt way better, 14% felt a little better). Also 100% said they’d like to see protected bicycle lanes in town. 

So why don’t we have more? Perhaps some comments received on Facebook can shed some light:

• “I don’t understand what that’s supposed to do other than taking more space out of traffic lanes,” Paula M.

• “When are you building a parking garage? You know, for all the parking spots you keep taking away?” John H.

• “They’ll be destroyed. People will fall over them and sue. Total waste of money,” Shana T. 

In all, 178 comments were made – some very supportive of bike and pedestrian safety – but the nay-sayers, the loud squeaky wheels, took the spotlight. 

Unfortunately, the “what do you mean I can’t go 50 mph in a 35 mph zone in my fully loaded F150?” kinds of folks cannot be ignored, and because of that, we will continue to get more parking downtown instead of safer bike lanes and wider sidewalks for pedestrians. And as long as the nay-sayers show up to City Council meetings, write letters, talk to their neighbors, make phone calls and post on social media, I can guarantee protected bike lanes will stay dusty in the garage, and bicycle/pedestrian/ vehicle crashes will continue to rise. No amount of grant funding will stop that.

To be more involved, visit the City of Durango Multimodal Transportation website www.durangoco.gov/362/Projects. You can also sign up for newsletter updates on the City’s “Engage” page: engage.durangoco.gov/ or email: multimodal@durangoco.gov or any (or all) of our City Council members asking for better and safer ways for cyclists and pedestrians to get around Durango. ?