WESTMINSTER —Westminster plans on making the most of an 18-mile-long, 12-foot- wide slab of concrete running along U.S. 36 and ending at a future commuter rail stop at the south end of the city.
This summer’s opening of tolling portions of the also saw the opening of a parallel bikeway running from Westminster to Boulder.
cuts through the heart of Westminster, ending at West 80th Avenue and Bradburn Boulevard. The city has already tied in nearby bike paths, said Westminster open space coordinator Heather Cronenberg, and will be striping bike lanes this month along sections of major thoroughfares like Lowell Boulevard and West 72nd Avenue.
“Right now, we’re at about 110 miles of bike paths in the city; we have projects currently underway that’s either adding or upgrading 14 more miles and eventually want to reach 150 miles,” Cronenberg said. “Combined with the U.S. 36 bikeway, we see Westminster becoming a regional cycling hub.”
City officials say a mile-long ride through Westminster neighborhoods at the bikeway’s end point will connect cyclists to Dry Creek Trail, which leads to multiple paths and trails to downtown Denver. Dry Creek Trail will also be the site of the future Westminster Station on the North Metro Rail Line, enhancing regional mobility, one of the key goals of the U.S. 36 project.
“The big change we see happening is that the U.S. 36 bikeway will attract more long-term bicyclists through the area,” said city community development director John Carpenter. “We certainly welcome that, and where the bikeway intersects with our trail system, we want to take every opportunity to introduce the rest of the region to our trail system.”
The bikeway cuts next to the Westminster Promenade and will also run along the future new downtown,
“There’s already a couple hotels on the route adding free bicycles to room rentals, which is a tangible example of businesses responding to the new bike trail,” Carpenter said.
Sitting at the other end of the bikeway, Boulder is known as a biking mecca, with dozens of independently owned shops and a cycling culture. In Westminster, the small handful of bike stores are owned by corporate chains, and most cyclists using the trail system last week said they don’t see much of the same enthusiasm in Westminster as in other parts of the region.
“I was looking forward to using this trail since I first heard about it being built a few years ago,” said resident Geoff Bruce, who described himself as an avid cyclist. “I’ve biked to Louisville about a half dozen times so far and I’ve been kind of surprised at how few people were on the pathway.”
The bikeway will become a key component of tying communities together while offering choices on transportation, said Audrey DeBarros, executive director of 36 Commuting Solutions, a nonprofit that advocated for the bikeway.
“Because U.S. 36 is an employment corridor, we think the bikeway will be a key attraction to why employers will want to relocate to the area,” DeBarros said. “Having this new infrastructure will help to attract and retain top-level talent to the region.”
Austin Briggs: 303-954-1729, abriggs@denverpost.com or twitter.com/abriggs
