Denver’s first two-way protected bike lane was unveiled on Monday, August 15 and we—and plenty of others!—were on hand to celebrate. The City and County of Denver installed the lane, which runs along South Broadway between Bayaud and Virginia Avenues.

Monday evening, hundreds of cyclists gathered at Illegal Pete’s on Broadway to ride the new lane, hear from city planners about the design and celebrate the launch with Bicycle Colorado and BikeDenver. We thank New Belgium, Primal, Feedback Sports and Totem Cyclery for helping to make the event a success and providing extra fun for all who attended.

The bike lane runs along the east side of Broadway and features bike-specific traffic signals, bike boxes to facilitate making turns and green striping in potential conflict areas to raise awareness for all road users and increase safety.

The protected bike lane is part of a 3-15 month study designed to test alternative ways to organize Denver streets for increased mobility options. After 3 months of data collection, the city will evaluate the results and assess the continuation of the remainder of the study. Next steps for the project will be shared in February, 2017.

As a cyclist, how can you help ensure the success of the study? It’s easy!

• For starters, go and ride the lane. Bike counts will be taking place during the study phase to obtain data on actual numbers of folks using the lane.
• Patronize the businesses along the bike lane. Cyclists can have a strong economic impact in areas that support biking and encourage bicyclists to frequent.
• Share the love on social media. Post your great cycling photos on Facebook (including the Bikes on Broadway page), Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #bikesonbroadway.
• Give feedback. Take the survey at denvermovesbroadway.com and show your support of safer mobility options for Denver.

But the best part is that the new lane is really fun to ride, so go check it out! And like the Bikes on Broadway Facebook page to find out about future events.