This article was originally published on July 11, 2013 on my North of Prospect website. Since that time a Poudre student was struck by a car when a motorist fell asleep at the wheel. The student was walking on the shoulder of Laporte Avenue on his way to Poudre High School and had just crossed the bridge shown in the last photo. He is now paralyzed from the waist down.
Also since the time this article was written, the City has reviewed its sidewalk prioritization plan and gotten some additional feedback from the public regarding which sidewalks we would like to see addressed. There was some level of surprise expressed by City staff at the number of parents that wrote in that they’d like the routes to and from their children’s schools to include sidewalks in order to improve safety.
However, since publishing this article in 2013, only one street mentioned below has been improved. Vine, Taft, and Laporte remain just as harry scary as before. North Shields, however, has since been right-sized in order to fit bike lanes on the street. For the most part, though, the sidewalks remain just as bad.
As I walked my dogs through City Park this morning, I was dismayed to see a new sidewalk being put in along the northern end of the park.
New sidewalk along the north end of City Park.
New sidewalk at the northeast corner of City Park.
We have kids in this city that travel to and from school along arterial roads with no sidewalks, where pedestrians, bicyclists, and trash trucks have to share the exact same side of the road while gravel filled dump trucks rumble past …and we’re putting in new sidewalks in the park?!!! Really?!!!
Just in case you’ve never walked or biked along North Taft Hill Road, North Shields Street or West Vine Drive in the morning or afternoon, here’s what you’re likely to see.
North Taft Hill Road has no sidewalks but lots of trucks.
North Shields Street has skinny sidewalks and the street gets skinny at points also.
Even cars have a tough time on West Vine Drive. Imagine what students go through.
Bridge crossing can get scary on Laporte Avenue.
The photos with text added were created using PicFont.com.
The most recent version of the Sidewalk Prioritization Model can be found on the City website. It was published on December 8, 2017.