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But dozens of warnings have been handed out as
the district has stepped up its safety efforts in the wake of a head-on
collision that killed a cyclist in an underpass in the fall of 2003.
"We've probably clocked about 1,000
bikes," Scheuerman says. "About 80 percent of the people are going the
limit or below, but a small percentage are going 21 mph or above. We target them
if they are anywhere dangerous - on a curve or a bridge, or in a blind spot or a
congested area. These people need to pay attention."
Scheuerman says run-ins between users can result
in far more than skid marks or skinned knees.
In one case, a woman cyclist went down while
trying to avoid another rider entering the path: "She did a face-plant on
the concrete and knocked out a bunch of her teeth."
In another, a child whose helmet had slipped down
over his face continued riding, ran into the back of a woman pedestrian and
knocked her down: "She was in the hospital for four days. It broke her ribs
and punctured a lung."
Besides cracking down on fast-moving cyclists,
South Suburban is offering an alternative to separate runners and walkers from
the often busy concrete path. It's a crushed-gravel trail that parallels the
existing path for 5 miles from C-470 north to near Belleview Avenue, with
another 3 miles still to be built to extend it to Yale.
In addition, the district has put in roundabouts
to help prevent collisions at intersections at the Carson Nature Center and Lee
Gulch.
In Denver, trails planner Dick Gannon says he
hasn't heard of any tickets being issued since speeding cyclists were targeted
several years ago in Washington Park, where a similar 15 mph limit also is often
ignored.
But as recreational traffic picks up with the
arrival of spring-like weather, conflicts between users are likely to increase,
especially on such heavily used conduits as the Cherry Creek and High Line Canal
paths and the Platte path north and south of Confluence Park.
"It always comes down to common courtesy at
some level," Gannon says. "These are multi-use paths, and that means
everybody gets to use them, whether they're runners or walkers or bicyclists or
bladers or people with dogs or strollers."
That said, Gannon advises cyclists intent on
training for distance rides to do their workouts in less congested locales, such
as Cherry Creek State Park or the Meridian office park in the southeast
corridor.
As for dog walkers, he cautions that retractable
leashes pose a menace to cyclists as well as to the pets involved, because 1)
the cords are hard to see and 2) they allow dogs to lurch unpredictably into the
traffic lanes.
"My personal opinion is that anything longer
than a 4-foot leash is too long," Gannon says.
Betsy Jacobsen, bicycle and pedestrian
coordinator for the Colorado Department of Transportation, says it's hard to
gauge the extent of conflicts between trail users because - as with
confrontations between motorists - most incidents go unreported.
But the solution, she suggests, may be found more
in education than enforcement.
"It's no different from showing courtesy to
other drivers when you're on the road," Jacobsen says. "Some people
are just not aware that when they're on a bike they need to give an audio cue to
the people they're approaching, or that when they're walking (on a multi-use
trail) they need to stay to the right."
Trail managers from various agencies around metro
Denver have begun meeting regularly to discuss safety and maintenance issues.
The need for better signage has emerged as a common theme, says Bill Woodcock,
manager of planning and construction for South Suburban.
Among other improvements, South Suburban plans to
extend its use of yellow center stripes - especially in underpasses, as in the
Cherry Creek channel in Denver - and to erect signs to encourage walkers to use
the gravel trail where it's available.
That should help clarify things for folks like
Nicole Herman-Mercer, 23, a Littleton mother who takes strolls on the Mary
Carter Greenway three or four times a week with her 7-month-old son, Owen.
"I didn't know what it was for," she
says of the newly opened pedestrian path.
Staff Writer Jack Cox can be reached at jcox@denverpost.com
or 303-820-1785.
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