Cyclists travel through the new intersection design at Seventh Avenue and Williams Street, where the Seventh Avenue Parkway median ends adjacent to Little Cheesman Park. Cyclists may continue west on Seventh but motorists are forced to turn right or left. Neighorhood residents have complained about the project. (Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post) At the intersection of the South Marion Street Parkway and Bayaud Avenue, just south of the Denver Country Club, a “ghost bike” spray-painted white stands chained to a shade tree in remembrance of Alexis Bounds, who was killed there while cycling in 2019. A few feet away, a blue street sign asks motorists to drive safely in her memory. Another memorial, faded now after four years, is painted on a nearby sidewalk.
The 37-year-old mother of two small boys was riding in a bike lane on Marion when she was struck by a dump truck. At the time, city planners wanted to improve the safety of the parkway’s bike lanes but were being met by neighborhood opposition.
“What made it horribly poignant is that we were having conversations with the community about the aesthetics, and the function, and the need for this bikeway,” said David Pulsipher, transportation planning manager for the city of Denver. “They were saying, ‘We don’t need it, it’s perfectly safe, I ride it all the time.’ And then that happened.” Becky Holden, a close friend of Alexis Bounds, lights candles at a “ghost bike” in her friend’s honor at South Marion Street Parkway and East […]
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