Mission:
“Promoting safe and fun bicycling through education, awareness, and collaboration”
Vision:
“Douglas County becomes one of the safest places anywhere to ride a bicycle for transportation or recreation”
Judy Siel presented the “Good Bad &Ugly of Bicycling in Douglas County” slide show to explain the purpose of Bicycle Douglas County to guests, Melanie Worley, Douglas County Commissioner, and Larry Corcoran, Douglas County Traffic Engineer. The group had a long discussion about how to make Douglas County more bicycle friendly. Comments included that the roads in northern part of the county are generally bicycle friendly, but the roads in the southern part are not as easy to bicycle. Larry talked about projects that were under consideration for improvement (i.e.: shoulders). The group also discussed the addition of “Share the Road” signs and where they would do the most good: CO #105, and Monarch Bvld. The stripping on Monarch near Daniels Gate was just recently repainted before Larry could ask them to widen the shoulder area and narrow the center island, so we will have to wait till the next repainting for this improvement. Paving on Daniels Park Rd is being prevented by the city of Denver (which owns Daniels Park and does not want this road paved). Melanie Worley intends to explore the possibilities with Denver’s new mayor, John Hickenlooper. A gap in a bicycle route that connects northern Douglas County to Castle Rock, Sedalia, Louviers was mentioned and Douglas County believes that the best option is to put shoulders along CO# 85 when this road is rebuilt or possibly a paved trail, instead of another new road because the surrounding real estate is very expensive. Bicycle Douglas County needs to put together a priority list of roads for adding shoulders and Share the Road signs. Improvements along C-470 and E-470 trail at grade crossings were also mentioned. Larry provided a map of new roads and interchanges and project descriptions in Douglas County for the tax revenue bonds in the current election.
Club Business: Bicycle Douglas County Position Statement received endorsement by Highlands Ranch Community Association and the Development Review Committee. See attached file.
Veloswap is this Saturday 10/25/03 for 9:00-5:00 at the National Western Complex in Denver. Next year we hope to have a booth where we can hand out memberships fliers and let members sell bike gear. This year our brochures will be handed out by Bicycle Colorado booth to interested Douglas County bicyclists.
Public service announcements: Douglas County has it own cable channel #8. Melanie Worley suggested that our group make our own video via DC8 about bicycle safety and rules of the road for cyclists. There are several existing videos from CDOT that can also work. We will be working on this project this fall and winter. Please think of ideas and get involved in making a great public service announcement to air on DC8.
Thank You Kudos:
Federal Transportation Bill Extended: Congress passed a bill extending TEA-21 funding for 5 additional months. This bill continues funding for all the TEA-21 programs at levels similar to ’03. More info and history on SAFETEA is available at www.bicyclecolorado.or/4/safetea.
Trick or Treat: Everyone answered why they should ride their bikes outdoors this winter. The best answer: “so I can keep the saddle calluses on my butt and be ready to bike the MS150” and Gary received a pair of 700x35 snow tires for his bike!! for his great response. Special fall treats handed out to everyone at the meeting.
Hint of the Month: from Paul Headden - bike from Parker Rd. & Main St. to Founders Pkwy via Crowfoot/Motsenbocker and back. (23 miles roundtrip on a fairly new road that has shoulders). Send your favorite routes including starting location, route, miles and difficulty to Gary@bicycledouglascounty.org We want to get an area on our website for suggested routes throughout Douglas County.