Ban on Bicycling in Black Hawk, Colorado Impacts Route

We are puzzled by some news we read earlier this week on Biking Bis and the U.S. Bicycle Route System Facebook page. Black Hawk, Colorado (pop. 118) has banned bicycles from most roads in their city. (Read the press release) This includes roads we direct bicycle travelers to on our Great Parks South (GPS), Section 1.

As of this time, cyclists traveling our Great Parks South route have two options to avoid a $68 ticket for riding through Black Hawk:

1. Walk your loaded touring bike the 1.5 miles through town (on State Hwy 279/Gregory Street) before remounting your bike for refreshment in either Central City or Rollinsville.
2. Detour around the area entirely by using the Berthoud Pass Alternate bypassing not only Black Hawk but Rocky Mountain National Park.

In the bigger picture, there are other things you can do to let Black Hawk, a town that prides itself on having a tourism-based economy, know how you feel about its decision. Some of our suggestions are:

• Support Bike Colorado's efforts to overturn the law. Be sure to read their very informative page on the ban.
• If you are on Facebook, you can "like" the Bicyclists and Tourist Black Hawk Colorado page.
• If you live in Colorado, you could organize a "bike in" to the city to let them know cyclists are concerned about this action.

As a town that depends on tourism dollars to support its population, we're surprised that powers that be in Black Hawk seem unaware of the Bicycling and Walking in Colorado survey the state Department of Transportation did in 2000. It is very favorable to the idea that making cyclists welcome is a way to impact your economy positively. A more recently released study, The Economic Impact of Bicycling in Wisconsin (pdf), also shows cyclists and tourism in a favorable light.

We'd like to invite Black Hawk to revisit their decision. A good place to start is our pdf, Become a Touring Friendly Town, or Bicyclists Bring Business (pdf), a joint publication of the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor, Parks & Trails New York, and the New York State Canal Corporation. They might also want to note the number of communities eager to be a part of U.S. Bicycle Route 20 in Michigan as highlighted in a recent article in The Saginaw News. These local governments see the benefits of tourism dollars created by bicycle travelers and have opened their arms wide to receive them.

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GEOPOINTS BULLETIN is written by Jennifer 'Jenn' Milyko, an Adventure Cycling cartographer, and appears weekly, highlighting curious facts, figures and persons from Adventure Cycling's Route Network with tips and hints for personal route creation thrown in for good measure. She also wants to remind you that map corrections and comments are always welcome via the online Map Correction Form.