Lakewood's first separated bike lane aims to improve cyclist safety

The City of Lakewood now has a fully accessible and separated bike lane. This is the first of its kind in Lakewood that is used to separate the bike lane and the roads.

The City of Lakewood hosted a ribbon cutting Wednesday morning at Addenbrook Park off Garrison Street in Lakewood. Local bicyclists and bicycling advocates rode through the ribbon. The City says before the installation of the new bike lanes, Garrison Street was not the safest street for bicyclists. This still continues to be an issue with drivers' speed in the area.

To combat this issue, multi-mile separated bike lanes were created. The lanes can be found on Denver West Parkway, Garrison Street from West Jewell to West Alameda Avenues and a section of Harlan Street near Alameda. These altogether span about six miles.

Lakewood Mayor Wendy Strom and Bicycling Advocate Gary Hardy spoke about the importance of making Lakewood more bicycling-friendly and safer, especially Garrison Street. Project Manager Jenny Gritton says these bike lanes will help, but there is still more to be done with drivers.

"This is our highest volume bicycling corridor, but it's not one that has been safe," Gritton said. "We have a lot of high speeds. We have a lot of cars traveling on this road so I'm making this road safer for bicycles that are already traveling. We are working to make Garrison more accessible to a wide range of people who would like to ride their bikes, but frankly, they are scared. That's what this project is about."

The entire project costs $350,000. The funds come from the City's General Fund which mostly comes from sales tax paid by shoppers in Lakewood.