Lanes to become bus-only on major Denver streets

The city of Denver will convert more space on two of its major downtown roads to serve transit riders and bicyclists.

An automobile travel lane on 15th Street will be converted to a bus-only transit lane from Court Place to Larimer Street, a distance of about 0.7 miles, according to a Tuesday press release. That will leave two personal automobile travel lanes.

Later this year, the same will happen for a similar distance along 17th Street from Market Street to Broadway. Personal automobile drivers will be allowed to enter the transit lanes to make right turns only.

The change is meant to reduce travel time for buses on the streets, which can see up to 60 busesperhour.

The city also will build new protections for the bike lane along 15th Street. Previously, the lane was separated only by bollards, which vehicles could easily drive between. Those are being replaced by rubber curbs and new bollards.

The city also will eliminate automobile left-turn lanes where they overlap with the bike lane on 15th Street.

That change will get rid of the “mixing zones” where forwardtraveling cyclists and left-turning automobiles share space near intersections.

Instead, car drivers will make left turns directly from travel lanes. The city also will place bollards near the corner of the intersections to slow down left-turning drivers. Turning drivers must yield to cyclists.

A city spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a question about the effects of the changes on personal automobile travel speeds.

There are no immediate plans to extend the 15th Street bike lane beyond Larimer Street, where cyclists merge with automobile traffic.

Transit-only lanes also are planned for 18th and 19th streets downtown in 2020. Bike lanes also are planned for those streets.