Walk Score of 42 for Stapleton? (Denver, Highlands Ranch: home, buy, gated)

[denverian]

Originally Posted by livecontent

Good Information. I think we should restrict cars more, no matter what the cost of gas. We are doing is slowly like the 16th Street Mall and Time Square in NYC etc.

We just initiated in the state a law that a car must give the right of way to a bus when the bus in merging in traffic from a stop. That is a good start.

We are widening sidewalks on Broadway for pedestrians, adding mediums and not adding any lanes to the road--good move.

It amazes me how people will run across a street to get out of a car that is waiting for them to cross--even mothers with a child in a stroller. Let the driver wait until one crosses at a normal pace. I do not like pedestrians running for me and I will not run for any impatient driver. I walk my normal pace which is slow and when I driver has problems with how I move and gets on the horn or says something nasty they look foolish and will make a big mistake that may cost them a fine--if I decide that they are harassing a person in need, considering I use a cane or a walker. Just my pet peeve.

Livecontent

I've always yielded to buses with their left turn signals on and thought it was law. I guess after living in Germany where it was the law, I just got used to it. And don't care to get run over by a bus!

[TechMike]

The largest thing that bugs me about the Stapleton development is the big box Northfield shopping area. It is a sea of parking lots. If you feel the need to shop at Target before going to the movie theater, it feels like you have to drive your car from Target to the movie theater.

It is also out of the way and across I-70. There aren't any roads suitable for biking that go over to it. If I wanted to get there by bike, I would have to go on Quebec, or get on the unpaved portion of Sand Creek Greenway and cross over.

Then, of course, you have big wide streets surrounding and bisecting the neighborhood. I'm tired of these streets with wide medians, four to six lanes of traffic and when they have bike lanes, they are narrow and/or are in the door zone of parked cars.

[denverian]

Originally Posted by TechMike

The largest thing that bugs me about the Stapleton development is the big box Northfield shopping area. It is a sea of parking lots. If you feel the need to shop at Target before going to the movie theater, it feels like you have to drive your car from Target to the movie theater.

It is also out of the way and across I-70. There aren't any roads suitable for biking that go over to it. If I wanted to get there by bike, I would have to go on Quebec, or get on the unpaved portion of Sand Creek Greenway and cross over.

Then, of course, you have big wide streets surrounding and bisecting the neighborhood. I'm tired of these streets with wide medians, four to six lanes of traffic and when they have bike lanes, they are narrow and/or are in the door zone of parked cars.

I agree, and don't like all the parking. There's the "main st." down the middle, but it seems so "feaux" when it's surrounded by suburban big box development. The access issue will be improved once the new Central Park Blvd. overpass/interchange is completed later this year.

Personally, I would prefer not to have Bass Pro there. Bass Pro should be outside the 470 loop! IKEA should have gone there, IMO. And I would have preferred the Quebec Square development to have been like Belmar. But nobody ever asked me for my opinion. There's supposed to be a dense TOD (transit oriented development) surrounding the new train station, so we'll see if they get that right. I still love living in Stapleton though. Best neighborhood I've ever lived in.

[bikinmikein]

Bass Pro should be outside the 470 loop!

Well, the huge fish tank is pretty neat.

Then, of course, you have big wide streets surrounding and bisecting the neighborhood. I'm tired of these streets with wide medians, four to six lanes of traffic and when they have bike lanes, they are narrow and/or are in the door zone of parked cars.

I can't think of any streets that are 4-6 lanes anywhere near Denver? Maybe 2 lanes each way with a median in between, which I guess is 4 lanes in total but very different from places like Austin where bikes are allowed to and often do ride on the median of the interstate. Bike lanes are the same width everywhere and yes being at the edge of the street they are within range of car doors, this is not unique to anywhere.

[denverian]

Originally Posted by bikinmikein

Well, the huge fish tank is pretty neat.

Well, yeah. My boys could spend an hour looking at at. And they have great winter gear. Otherwise, they don't have anything I'd buy.

[TechMike]

Originally Posted by bikinmikein

Well, the huge fish tank is pretty neat.

I can't think of any streets that are 4-6 lanes anywhere near Denver? Maybe 2 lanes each way with a median in between, which I guess is 4 lanes in total but very different from places like Austin where bikes are allowed to and often do ride on the median of the interstate. Bike lanes are the same width everywhere and yes being at the edge of the street they are within range of car doors, this is not unique to anywhere.

Four to six lanes refers to total lanes. This is pretty standard. Four lanes would be two each way. Two lanes would be one each way. You can have three lane roads, one lane each way with a center turning lane. It makes more sense to refer to overall lanes than the number each way. It gives a better sense of the overall road width.

What I would have preferred is more two lane roads (that's one lane in each direction) connecting the neighborhood. For example, 29th Ave could have been made to actually connect through Quebec instead of being offset. Perfectly suitable for cycling. In addition, the narrow width of a two lane road keeps speeds low. Wider roads such as Central Park Blvd, or MLK Blvd are conducive to high speeds even if the speed limit is low.

Bike lanes are not the same width everywhere. Denver has a mix of narrow bike lanes, wide bike lanes (Champa St in Downtown), bike lanes next to narrow parking lanes (MLK Blvd), next to wide parking lanes outside of door zones (Stout St, Champa St), next to no parking lane (16 Ave, 23rd Ave). There are of course other design issues with many of Denver's bike lanes, such as the lane being between double right turning lanes (Lawrence at 17th).

Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking Denver's effort at providing bike lanes. I'm just saying, there's a lot to be desired with what we are given. In a new development, you have the perfect chance to build wide bike lanes outside of door zones.

[KaaBoom]

Originally Posted by bikinmikein

Well, the huge fish tank is pretty neat.

I can't think of any streets that are 4-6 lanes anywhere near Denver?

Hm, Broadway south of Downtown is five lanes one direction. West Colfax is six lanes (three lanes each direction). Also I believe that parts of Wadsworth Blvd. Federal Blvd. Speer Blvd. Hampden Ave. Sheridan Blvd. Santa Fr Dr. Federal Blvd. and Colorado Blvd. are six lanes (three each direction). Probably more that I can't think of right now.

[TechMike]

Originally Posted by KaaBoom

Hm, Broadway south of Downtown is five lanes one direction. West Colfax is six lanes (three lanes each direction). Also I believe that parts of Wadsworth Blvd. Federal Blvd. Speer Blvd. Hampden Ave. Sheridan Blvd. Santa Fr Dr. Federal Blvd. and Colorado Blvd. are six lanes (three each direction). Probably more that I can't think of right now.

Quebec St is six lanes at MLK and eight lanes at 35th. MLK is six lanes going through Stapleton.

The point is, for a "new urbanist" development, they are doing very little to make it multi-modal and the streets around Stapleton have become traffic sewers.

Inter-connectivity amongst the streets is reduced compared to a traditional grid (though is better than traditional suburban cul-de-sac developments) which helps contribute to the traffic sewers.

[woob]

Originally Posted by KaaBoom

Hm, Broadway south of Downtown is five lanes one direction. West Colfax is six lanes (three lanes each direction). Also I believe that parts of Wadsworth Blvd. Federal Blvd. Speer Blvd. Hampden Ave. Sheridan Blvd. Santa Fr Dr. Federal Blvd. and Colorado Blvd. are six lanes (three each direction). Probably more that I can't think of right now.

Most of these denver streets are so wide because they used to have streetcars running in both directions.

[denverian]

Originally Posted by TechMike

Quebec St is six lanes at MLK and eight lanes at 35th. MLK is six lanes going through Stapleton.

The point is, for a "new urbanist" development, they are doing very little to make it multi-modal and the streets around Stapleton have become traffic sewers.

Inter-connectivity amongst the streets is reduced compared to a traditional grid (though is better than traditional suburban cul-de-sac developments) which helps contribute to the traffic sewers.

What, exactly, is a "traffic sewer"?