Attendees at a Sept. 13 open house view the plans for bike lanes on Syracuse from 8th Ave. to 26th Ave.

Lowry and Stapleton will soon have a continuous bike and pedestrian connection. City officials have almost finalized the plans to build bike lanes and sidewalks on Syracuse St. from 8th Ave. in Lowry to 26th Ave. in Stapleton. These recommendations will be not be considered final until one more public meeting is held later this fall. Because the roadway will not be widened, the improvements will be made possible by narrowing travel lanes, by eliminating parking, or eliminating a travel lane in portions of the 1.7-mile corridor. Implementation of the bicycle improvements will take place in 2018. The plans, as presented at a September 13 open house, are described below:

24th to 26th Ave.

No change except the addition of buffering in bike lanes (extra striping to create more distance between cyclists and motor vehicles). Motor vehicle lanes will be narrowed. The city says the road narrowing is feasible due to the moderate traffic volumes.

Montview Blvd. to 24th Ave.

Buffered bike lanes will be added and one lane of motor vehicles each way will be removed to create space for buffering. The city also hopes narrowing to a single lane will help moderate vehicle speeds in this area (as well as from 24th to 26th Ave.)

Montview right turn to Syracuse

The right turn lane from Montview to go north on Syracuse is being closed to slow traffic and also as a safety measure, particularly for school children crossing Montview on their way to Ashley.

The photo rendering shows before and after views of the street.

11th Ave. to Montview Blvd.

“Conventional” bike lanes will be installed for the first time in this segment. These are like the bike lanes that currently exist on the northern end of Syracuse: a five-foot-wide space delineated by striped lanes. The space for the lanes will come from eliminating parking on one side of the street.

All told in this segment, 120 or more spaces could be eliminated (red lines show where parking is being eliminated). Tweaks to the proposed design could be made as a result of a “parking utilization” study to be conducted this fall for the area centered on the Zion Temple Church at 16th and Syracuse.

8th Ave. to 11th Ave.

Conventional bike lanes are proposed for this three-block stretch. No changes to on-street parking are proposed for this stretch.

The enhanced bike facilities along Syracuse are intended to complement the widening of Quebec from 13th to 26th Ave. Right-of-way limitations along Quebec have forced the city to focus bicycle and pedestrian improvements along Syracuse. Although the Quebec widening project is funded, construction there will not begin until at least 2022 because of the need to conduct federally mandated environmental analyses.

Final plans for the Syracuse project will be developed following a last public open house later this year. The city has set aside $400,000 for the design and implementation of the bicycle improvements with an additional $260,000 reserved for construction of missing sidewalks in the corridor.

Detailed project information can be found at the city website: https://www.denvergov.org/content/denvergov/en/bicycling-in-denver/planning/syracuse-corridor.html