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Road running for your life

Auraria planners eye poorly marked crossings, crowded intersections

By Andrew Flohr-Spence
spencand@mscd.edu

Andrew Black did not see the Ford Explorer until a second before it slammed into his front wheel – and then, for a while, he didn’t remember what happened.

Black had an eight-hour day behind him when he unlocked his bicycle from a rack near the Science Building and started pedaling toward the edge of campus.

The 26-year-old Metro biology major said he was tired after spending several hours in a chemistry lab. He wanted to get home.

Crossing major intersections on foot or on a bicycle is part of life for Metro students, and Black’s story is not unique. Darting through traffic is the inspiration for the Roadrunner nickname Metro students chose long ago for themselves. But enrollment at all three Auraria colleges is growing steadily, and an increasing number of students are choosing not to drive. The parking lots have empty spaces, and the crosswalks are full.

At the same time, downtown Denver is also growing and traffic around the campus is more congested than ever.

Riding a bicycle or walking is dangerous business. Approaching the intersection of Speer Boulevard at Arapahoe Street, Black looked to his left and did not see any cars coming. On the opposite street side, parallel his intended crossing, he saw the flashing crosswalk signal. He hopped off the curb to cross.

The sport utility vehicle had a green light coming out of downtown, turning south onto Speer Boulevard where Arapahoe Street comes to a dead end at the campus.

The impact threw Black onto the hood of the Explorer and into the vehicle’s windshield, cracking the glass. This is probably when he went unconscious, he said. He woke up moments later on the asphalt.

“I feel really lucky not to be dead,” Black said. “All I got was this,” he said holding up his cast. He shrugged and slowly nodded his head, looking for a moment into the distance.

All the while he had kept a hold on his bike with his right hand.

And somehow, his only injury, besides a couple of bruises, was a slight fracture in the wrist of his right hand.

Because he was crossing against the light, Black was given a reckless driving ticket, even though he was “riding” and not “driving.” The ticket could cost him some money and potentially take points off his driver’s license, but he said he is just glad to be in one piece.

If the driver had not seen him at the last second and slammed on the brakes, things might be very different, he said.

More than 28,000 vehicles drove down Speer Boulevard past Lawrence Street in a 24-hour period when traffic was last measured there in 2001, according to the city and county of Denver’s Traffic Count Database. Colfax Avenue and Auraria Parkway as vehicles pass Auraria were not far behind. These three major streets rank with the busiest in Denver County, excluding the highways, and the Colorado Department of Transportation expects the numbers to steadily rise with Denver’s growth.

Black’s story is an example of the ever-present danger that comes when crowds of students stampeding over the crosswalks and a nearly steady stream of cyclists crossing Speer Boulevard meet lane after lane of motorists trying to go another direction.

According to Joseph Kane’s book, Famous First Facts, as cited on the website of the U.S. Department of Transportation, the first automobile accident ever in the United States happened in 1896 in New York City between an early automobile and a bike.

Today, the numbers nationwide do not compare to the thousands of automobile-to-automobile fatalities, but accidents between automobiles and bicycles resulted in almost 800 deaths in 2005, according to the DOT’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System website.

Pedestrian fatalities in the U.S.numbered nearly 5,000 the same year. Colorado’s share was eight cyclists and 48 pedestrians.

But very little is made of the minor injuries and the close calls such as Black’s case.

If no deaths occur and only a ticket results, the Denver Police Department does not compile the statistics.

Auraria’s Chief Planner Jill Jennings has noticed the problem. A position created over the summer by the Auraria Board, the chief planner’s job is to make the plan for future expansion on campus. Auraria’s master plan, as it is known, sets broad goals, so Jennings works with everyone involved to iron out the plan’s details.

She has spent hours observing the movement of students, watching where they go, which paths they use and how they come and go from campus.

“I am trying to get a sense of where the sticking points are,” Jennings said.

She said she is aware of the danger students face and is working on a number of pedestrian improvements, both-short term and long-term. Specifically, she said she noticed the Arapahoe Street crossing was confusing and had unclear signs.

The intersection has only one crosswalk on the west side. The east side is not intended for crossing to keep the turn from Arapahoe Street clear. Jennings said the intersection needs a sign warning to only cross on the one side, and like the city recently installed at the corner of Speer Boulevard and Larimer Street, the Arapahoe Street corner needs a crosswalk with a timer so students know how much time is left to cross.

She said in the future she hopes the pedestrian tunnel beneath Larimer Street can be continued under both directions of Speer Boulevard, connecting downtown with the campus completely removed from the cars.

Jennings said the planned buildings that will more closely line Speer Boulevard, such as the new science building due to break ground this winter, will influence drivers to go slower. “If they have more to look at, people won’t drive like it’s a freeway,” Jennings said.

Black said he knows he was lucky, and that he would like to see some improvements made to the corner. Since the accident, he has had to learn a lot about the law concerning bicycles. He’s scheduled to go to court in November for his reckless driving ticket.

Black said he found out the hard way that he knew very little about the law and he worries that a lot of people are as ignorant as he was. He said riders need to take the time to inform themselves, because if they are lucky enough to survive, they can end up getting sued if they broke the law and caused the accident.

“I was really lucky the driver of the SUV was a nice guy,” Black said. “I really just want to get the word out so this doesn’t happen to other people.”