We help bicyclists feel safe riding where and when they want by pursuing infrastructure, laws, funding, and education that protect vulnerable road users. Through tireless advocacy and collaboration with lawmakers and the community, we’re working to create a safer, more accessible biking environment for Coloradans of all ages and abilities.
Using our Policy Principles as a guide, we have identified issues impacting access to safe biking and walking and the legislative solutions to address these issues.
Our legislative priorities are used to facilitate conversations with legislators, advocates, and other stakeholders to translate these solutions into potential future bills and bills into state laws.
Although we establish legislative goals annually and work to pass as many bicyclist- and pedestrian-friendly laws as possible during every legislative session, there is no target date for implementing the solutions below. This document serves both a short and long-term planning horizon.
Updated: October 2025
The demand for bike/ped infrastructure funding far exceeds the supply.
Remove barriers in Colorado statutes that prevent municipalities from implementing a new annual fee based on vehicle size and weight. Revenue from this fee would be invested in bike and pedestrian infrastructure. This solution does not create a new fee but empowers municipalities to take this step.
This bill, a variation of SB24-36, which failed to pass in 2024, was referred by the Transportation Legislative Review Committee and was introduced in the legislature in January 2025.
As Colorado’s population grows and more people visit our state to recreate outside, many trails suffer from overuse. A lack of sustainable funding is a top barrier to maintaining and building trails. Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s non-motorized trail program is currently the primary funding source for trails, distributing approximately $2 million annually through a competitive grant program that usually receives funding requests exceeding $6 million.
Establish an annual Mountain Bike Trail Stewardship pass modeled after the successful off-highway vehicle permit. A $26 pass would generate between $5 million and $25 million in gross revenue annually, with approximately 60%—70% invested in mountain bike trails, 15%—30% in conservation, and 10%—15% in administration.
In response to rising traffic fatalities and serious injuries, Colorado has recently adopted multiple new traffic laws (e.g., Three-Feet to Pass, Colorado Safety Stop, Move Over) and installed bicyclist and pedestrian infrastructure (e.g., bike boxes, bike traffic lights). However, there is no process to ensure these changes are shared with Colorado drivers. Additionally, people who move to Colorado are not required to take a formal driver training course or test.
All people holding a Colorado driver’s license must update their knowledge of traffic laws, infrastructure, and safe driving behaviors as part of the license application and renewal process. The ways to do this range from low to high touch. An example lower-touch approach: People renewing their license acknowledge reading a summary of select traffic laws and safe driving practices, as identified by the Department of Motor Vehicles. An example of a higher-touch approach: People renewing their license must watch a short video and complete a short written test.
Current law fails to hold drivers accountable who engage in careless behavior (e.g., speeding, distracted driving), which results in the death of another person. Drivers who knowingly engage in risky driving behaviors and hit and kill vulnerable road users are typically charged with Careless Driving Resulting in Death, a class 1 misdemeanor, with a typical punishment of one to two years of probation, a fine of $300 – $1,000, and 100-150 hours of community service (assumes the driver did not leave the scene of the crash, was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or had no previous traffic citations).
There are multiple approaches to addressing this issue. A few options include:
Change Careless Driving Resulting in Death from a class one misdemeanor to a class six felony. This would align the sentencing guidelines for hitting and killing a vulnerable road user with the sentencing guidelines in SB17-229 (“The Move Over for Cody Act”), a law to protect drivers on the shoulder of the road with their vehicle hazard lights on.
Classify specific driving behaviors, such as distracted driving or excessive speeding, as especially egregious and worthy of enhanced punishment. A similar punishment enhancement is in the statute when a person is driving under the influence.
Enhance penalties for vulnerable road users hit and killed in school zones. Although the statute provides for enhanced penalties for certain moving infractions, such as speeding, it does not provide for enhanced penalties when a negligent driver hits and kills another person in a school zone.
Intersections are often deadly for vulnerable road users, accounting for 51% of traffic fatalities and serious bodily injuries in Colorado. Right turns on red are especially dangerous; in some cities, up to 20% of pedestrian or bicyclist-related injury crashes at intersections involve vehicles making right turns on red. Colorado statute requires municipalities to install a sign at every intersection where they want to prohibit right turns on red, thus creating a significant barrier to broader bans (e.g., downtown business districts).
Colorado should follow the lead of several other U.S. cities and remove the requirement that municipalities sign every intersection where right turns are not permitted. Instead, the state should use different public messaging approaches.
Although parking in a bike lane is prohibited in some municipalities, it is not currently banned in state law. Obstacles in a bike lane often create a serious safety risk, causing riders to move into vehicle traffic.
Amend Colorado Revised Statutes 42-4- 1202 (regulating parking and abandonment of vehicles) to add bike lanes.
In 2016, the Office of Economic Development and International Trade, in partnership with the Colorado Department of Transportation and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Equity, commissioned a study by BBC Research to quantify the economic impact of biking and walking in Colorado. The data in this study has been instrumental in advocating for improved biking and walking. Since 2016, biking and walking in Colorado have changed dramatically, partially due to the introduction of E-bikes and bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure expansion. This earlier study needs to be updated and expanded to include the impact of E-bikes.
The Colorado General Assembly should allocate $100,000 – $125,000 to the Office of Economic Development and International Trade to update and expand the 2016 study.
Colorado approved the “Share the Road” license plate in 2008 to complement “Share the Road” traffic signs and promote bike safety. In 2009, Colorado passed the “Three Feet to Pass” law, and as such, “Share the Road” signs are being replaced with “Three Feet to Pass” signs (Note that signs are being replaced in part because some drivers interpret the law to mean bicyclists must ride as far right on the road as possible so drivers can pass rather than drivers must share the road with bicyclists).
Retire the “Share the Road” license plate and introduce a new “Three Feet to Pass” one.
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