Downtown Longmont sidewalks become a dismount zone

That might be the best way to describe the implementation of a downtown "dismount zone" for bicyclists and skateboarders.

Discussions that have gone on for a couple of years have led to the installation of small, blue-and-white signs tacked onto street-lamp poles on the sidewalks at the entrance to each block between Third and Sixth avenues. The signs read, "Pedestrian Zone; Please Walk Your Wheels."

"The consensus of the merchants was that this was a problem," said Kimberlee McKee, the executive director of the Longmont Downtown Development Authority.

She said that the idea of making downtown a dismount zone had come up from time to time ever since she took her position in early 2011.

"The question was, did we want an ordinance or not?" McKee said.

After consulting with city officials and the bicycle advocacy group Bicycle Longmont, it was decided that a formal city ordinance, which could have carried a fine with it, was not necessary. Instead, the signs will stay up for a year and the LDDA will monitor merchants' observations on whether incidents of close calls between pedestrians and shop owners and people on bikes or skateboards continue.

Several dozen people responded to an online public survey that the LDDA put up late last year, and 60 percent of respondents favored making downtown a dismount zone, McKee said. Thirty-one percent reported that they themselves had had a close call.
"Really, all they need to do is, when you have an incident, send us an email and we'll keep a file of those," McKee said of the merchants.

If the signs prove ineffective, then she and other city officials will revisit the issue next year, she said.

Also in the works are adding up to 40 bike racks in the downtown area, and the LDDA is putting together a brochure explaining the dismount zone.

"We're going to work with the LDDA to find out the best way to put the word out on the street," said Bicycle Longmont president Ryan Kragerud, adding that his group will give input on where the bike racks will go.

Kragerud has said that he understands the concerns of merchants about people riding on the sidewalks downtown, but he still wants to keep downtown both pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly.

To that end, he would like to see the alleys be designated as detours that could take people off Main Street, something that McKee said is not being planned.

"For safety and confusion issues, it was decided that the alleys should remain one-way," she said.

"I think we'd like to revisit that," Kragerud said. "The east side (alley) is clearly very bike-friendly."

He'll continue to lobby for the alleys to get designated as bikeways, he said.
As it stands now, the small blue signs are the sole indicator that the Main Street sidewalks are a dismount zone. McKee said there are no plans to paint any markings on the sidewalk, where they might be more likely to be seen by people riding bikes, but she and others will continue to evaluate the situation. Read the full story at www.indoorlite.com web.