Gov. John Hickenlooper this week announced a plan to spend more than $100 million over the next four years to make Colorado “the best state for biking.” (Photo courtesy of Ouray County Historical Society)
Re: “Hickenlooper promises $100M to make Colorado “the best state for biking”,” Sept. 17 news story.
I am grateful Gov. John Hickenlooper intends to spend $100 million on Colorado biking, and I hope a big chunk of that is invested in Denver.
On a recent trip to Minneapolis I was told it is considered the “bike-friendliest city in the country.” No way, I thought; no place can match Denver’s trails and bike-friendly attitude. A day of biking proved me wrong! Minneapolis has built incredible bike routes. The city is circumscribed with two-way bike trails and parallel pedestrian paths. A dedicated bike “freeway” crosses the entire city, complete with on-off ramps and bike-friendly businesses along the way. Every river and creek seems to have a well-marked bike trail, including the mighty Mississippi.
Denver is great for biking. But imagine how much greater it could be with more and better bikeways like Minneapolis. With our climate and enthusiastic cyclists, we should be the “bike-friendliest city in the country.”
Michael Knorr, Denver
This letter was published in the Sept. 19 edition.It is interesting that Gov. John Hickenlooper has decided to spend our gas tax money on bicycle lanes and improvements for bicycle riders. We have highways in rural Colorado with no shoulders, two-lane highways with no passing lanes for miles, guardrails that need to be installed in dangerous places on our roadways, and snowplowing being curtailed on many rural highways after dark. We have highways and roads in the metro area riddled with potholes, increasing traffic congestion throughout the day, and bridges throughout the state that need to be repaired.
While I agree that bicycling is a healthy activity and many parts of the state receive tourist revenue from the biking community, only a small percentage of bicycle riders actually commute to and from work. The vast majority of users of our transportation system drive their cars to and from work everyday.
Perhaps if we finally address the dwindling transportation funding issues in our state, we can turn to increasing bicycle lanes in the hope that people will abandon their cars for bikes. In the meantime we need to focus on maintaining what we already have and hopefully increase maintenance, capacity and safety improvements on our highways.
Terri Binder, Arvada
This letter was published in the Sept. 19 edition.I was pleased to read about the governor’s plan to improve biking and walking infrastructure, including for children going to school. Increasing physical activity can help prevent obesity, which is the leading medical reason why 70 percent of young Coloradans are ineligible for military service. Research shows that simply walking or biking to and from school can add an average of 16 minutes of physical activity to a child’s day, just over one-quarter of the daily amount recommended by experts. Unfortunately, only 20 percent of adolescents in Colorado walk or bike to school.
Prioritizing funding for safer and better biking and walking infrastructure will ensure that those who want to join the military are fit enough to do so.
Anthony Przybyslawski, Lone Tree
The writer is a retired U.S. Air Force major general.
This letter was published in the Sept. 19 edition.
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