DRIVE-THRU CLOSED
Bicyclists and pedestrians bike and walk along a stretch of East 16th Avenue near Washington
Street on Saturday. The city of Denver has temporarily closed several streets to vehicle traffic in a few different locations around Denver to promote better social distancing in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
They have become Denver’s three grand walkways — unexpected auto-free zones born rather suddenly of the war against an enemy that has infected nearly 850 people in the city and felled 15 since the novel coronavirus was first detected in Colorado just more than a month ago.
The street closures were put into place Saturday as a way of providing some relief to city parks that are getting heavy use from urban dwellers enduring a stay-at-home order that has been extended until at least April 30.
The three locations — a stretch of East 16th Avenue west of City Park, a stretch of East 11th Avenue west of Cheesman Park, and a segment of West Byron Place on the north side of Sloan’s Lake — are open for cyclists, pedestrians and local and emergency vehicular traffic.
“I think it’s smart,” said Duncan James, who was running through alleys in Denver’s Capitol Hill neighborhood Monday in an attempt to keep his distance from neighbors. “It’s hard to keep Coloradans in their houses.”
James, who glanced up and down a brisk but far from overwhelmed 11th Avenue before ducking down another alley, said the hardtop paths in Cheesman Park are so jam-packed with cyclists and walkers these days that he welcomes more recreational space.
Kylie Diemer, a Denver resident making her way down West 16th Avenue with her dog Dakota on Monday afternoon, said the same.
“I think it’s great to give us some kind of outlet,” she said of the nearly 2 miles of West 16th Avenue between Lincoln Street and East High School that is now closed to cars. “Having additional space is not a bad thing when public parks are being crowded.”
And crowded was the watchword of the day on a sun-drenched Monday with afternoon temperatures in the mid-70s. At Sloan’s Lake on the west side of town, Laurel Jensen was avoiding the perimeter paths next to the lake because of the heavy foot traffic.
“There are so many people that I’ve been walking through the neighborhoods,” Jensen, a nurse from Edgewater, said as her dog waited in the shade on
Byron Place. “I’ve never even walked on this road before.”
City spokesman Eric Escudero said while additional space for people to stretch their legs is key during the pandemic, it is still incumbent upon residents to create the personal space that makes it harder for the coronavirus to jump from one person to the next.
“People need to use good judgment when utilizing these streets, just as they would any other time they leave the house, maintaining social distancing and wearing masks,” he said.
The only conflict that anyone has noticed in the 48 hours or so the roads have been closed to cars has been pedestrians yelling at drivers who they believe are not complying with the road closure signs.
“Conceptually, it’s great, but they need to control the traffic better,” said a masked Jeff Stanley, who was strolling along West 16th Avenue near City Park on Monday. “Perhaps some enforcement.”
Escudero said that’s easier said than done, as the closures still permit vehicular access for residents and those carrying out essential business activities such as food delivery.
“People in cars are urged to go very slowly and use extreme caution on these shared streets,” he said. “We’re adding signage this week to reinforce that message and further educate people to hopefully prevent the need for additional enforcement.”
Jill Locantore, the executive director of the Denver Streets Partnership, helped spearhead the street closure effort after her organization found in a survey of 1,400 Denver residents that they reported walking and biking more since the pandemic hit the city last month.
She said the first three closures constitute around 3 miles of roadway, but more road are coming in the next few days to make other parts of the city more pedestrian-friendly as well.
“There are not enough safe spaces to walk or bike while creating that physical distance,” said Locantore, a resident of the City Park West neighborhood. “We’ve got 5,000 miles of streets in Denver. It seems like it’s not too much to ask to have this set aside for the people.”