Denver residents and neighborhood leaders are main the pack in the case of e-bikes. Their rebate program is proving to be wildly profitable.
This 12 months town has paid as much as $1,700 to 4,000-plus new e-bike house owners. Now they’re factoring e-bikes into their future path and on-street bike infrastructure plans. As a substitute of the standard 3-foot bike lane, Denver will advocate a width of 5 toes. Wider bike lanes enable bikes to go every and supply extra distance from site visitors.
In Colorado Springs, we nonetheless don’t know if e-bikes are even authorized on our hottest city trails. We do know the variety of e-bikes on our trails and in our streets is rising with few experiences of issues.
Encouraging individuals to depart their automobiles at dwelling and take an e-bike to work or to run errands is a no brainer. E-bike use impacts air high quality and site visitors congestion, and since Class 1 and Class 2 e-bikes require some pedaling, they’re good to your well being.
Plus there are presently extra federal {dollars} out there for multi-modal initiatives. Highway initiatives that accommodate individuals on any form of bike or electrical scooter are going to attain greater.
To essentially make the most of e-bikes’ rising reputation, e-bike customers should really feel secure on the routes they take. In any other case, the bike is more likely to sit within the storage. Bike lanes on busy metropolis streets won’t entice as many new e-bike riders as trails will.
We’re lucky to have a fairly superb path system that can enhance over the subsequent few years. The Legacy Loop will see vital progress over the subsequent couple of years.
On the similar time, with the exploding reputation of e-bikes, our trails are additionally more likely to turn into extra crowded as our inhabitants continues to develop.
Colorado Springs has “nice bones” in the case of trails. Improved signage that features security ideas for brand new riders would assist. So would wider bike lanes.
We’re additionally wanting ahead to the 4 new “path rangers” within the proposed 2023 metropolis finances. With 120 miles of city trails, we might use just a few extra, nevertheless it’s a superb begin.
Davies is the manager director of the Trails and Open Area Coalition.
Davies is the manager director of the Trails and Open Area Coalition.
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