Montbello Bicycle Course

A design focused on bicycle and pedestrian safety

With the City’s goal of incorporating more bicycle facilities in Denver, RS&H was selected to design an outdoor bicycle skills course with the goal of increasing safety for bike/ped users throughout the community. In partnership with Denver Parks and Recreation, the city selected a section of the Montbello Recreation Center parking lot to repurpose in a community with an active and diverse population. This safe environment was created to allow users to learn skills and become comfortable with the variety of bicycle lanes incorporated throughout the city.

Creative thinking to overcome a unique design challenge

The shape of the parking lot created unique challenges for the design team since the area was segmented with curbs and islands that could not be removed. Through creative thinking, our team developed a design that incorporated these segments into eight distinct skills-development classrooms in a closed-circuit training facility. The classrooms begin with stopping, turning, and merging skills and become progressively more difficult, ending with roundabouts, a mini-city, different types of bicycle lanes, and intersection practice.

Integration of realistic street conditions

The design team integrated as many realistic street conditions as possible to improve skills, knowledge, and comfort levels to encourage active modes of transportation. Signing and striping elements were implemented utilizing the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices. Additionally, the team designed interactive yard signs for each classroom, including QR codes of YouTube training videos developed by the city.