By Gail Shimmin
My conclusion from Gary Garrison’s editorial of Sunday, August 11: “On all streets in Boulder, including Iris, safety should be the number one priority,” regarding the Iris Avenue project is that he has failed to take some very important Facts and simply repeated other statements published by city employees, which themselves are either distorted or perhaps misrepresented, in order to support his position. I would like to point out some of the factual deficiencies that Mr. Garrison (and City staff) appear to miss by using generalized City data and ignoring the actual data specific to Iris Avenue.
Crash Data: I don’t think Iris Avenue is the “very dangerous“Street” seems to be the whole premise of this project. There has not been a disproportionate number of bicycle accidents. From 2016 to 2023 (seven years), there have been only 15 accidents involving bicycles, and of those, 12 occurred at the intersections of Folsom and 28th, one at 19th, and one on Broadway. No deaths or even “accidents with serious injuries” were reported in the City Database of all bicycle accidents on Iris. To put it in perspective, the Iris car trips reported in the city’s database for the same period amounted to over 20,000 vehicle trips per day – a total of more than 50,000,000 trips in seven years. To put it in perspective, there were Actually only one bicycle accident per 3.33 million car journeys. And the few accidents This has happened clearly was at the intersections and not on the entire iris. The City should address the problem at the intersections, not through spending 5 million US dollars To “Rcharge Diet” all by Iris.
Through traffic: Longer travel time on the Iris as a result The “road diet” could result in through traffic on side streets. (The city has acknowledged that this will happen because staff say that this The project will now also include plans to limit speed on side streets.) Boulder currently has a robust system of bike lanes. Why doesn’t the city encourage their use? I regularly see over 100 bikes and pedestrians per day use the bike path on Kalmia. Similar figures can be seen on Glenwood. Both of that Streets are part of the Vision Zero program with a 20 mph speed limit. Bicycles and pedestrians are safer when the speed limit is lower and fewer cars are using existing bike lanes in neighborhoods.
Climate Change Plan: Instead of protecting bicycles and pedestrians, the road diet could bring more cars into neighboring neighborhoods and further endanger the air quality of these users, especially To Glenwood and Kalmia. I think there could be an increase in CO2 emissions in the neighborhoods, because the cars are be travelling at a slower speed. The City The staff recommendation is silent on this point. How does this fit into the city’s climate action plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Boulder?
Speed Enforcement: City staff have ignored our requests at every public meeting about this project. simply Enforce speed limits on Iris simply ineffective. Ask anyone who has ever gotten a speeding ticket – it changes their behavior. Ask CDOT about enforcement of HOV lane violations on I-70, which reportedly dropped significantly after $1 million in fines were sent out. It seems Iris would be a prime candidate for permanent speed cameras. Reduce the speed limit from 35 to 40 mph. miles per hour to 30 mph as fast as possible (with enforcement) and see how that affects the driver’s behavior.
Given its budgetary concerns, why can’t the city pursue other, cheaper options? Change of configuration To Iris with color and signs could tell us a lot about how the proposed changes would affect the Iris ride for all users, without 5 million US dollars. Improve sidewalks. Improve signage to redirect bicycles to existing routes. Keep Iris Avenue open to cars and allow cyclists and pedestrians to use the extensive system of designated routes that currently exist in our beautiful city. If you are concerned about the city’s proposals, write to your representatives on the city council.
Gail Shimmin lives in Boulder.
