Please put sidewalks where people want to walk!
The Shortest Path
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Please put sidewalks where people want to walk!
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Effective design IS putting the path where people walk and the State Capitol grounds are a great example as what can be done. The Path, as currently designed, does not take in the very human instinct of walking towards points that stick up like the pedestrian bridge. Oddly if there were a point in the middle of that curve that people walked towards it might be better design. As it is, it is a curve with no purpose except to be longer than necessary. If you want a longer walk, looping around the park makes more sense than that. If you want people to use the pedestrian bridges as transportation move the path. (And don't have the Denver Police ticket them for night use.)
I love this thread! Best ever, Ken. I’ve been in LoDo for thirteen years, so vividly recall the pre-Commons Park time. When the park went in I had two immediate reactions: Wow, what a great place for a park. Wow, what a horrible design. In my opinion it should never have been approved. It seems to be designed more for the person who wants to amble around while daydreaming as opposed to the pedestrian commuter. I’m fairly certain that a design could have been conceived to better serve both pedestrian modalities.
My two other big rubs with the park are the poor access to the space from the 15th & Little Raven corner (with the exception of a handicapped ramp, it’s basically walled off) and the ridiculous undulating sidewalks…
Theres another side to this. That patch of grass your cutting through is the single most used portion of the park. I play soccer there on fridays, toss the frisbee around with my wife, and participate in impromptu dog park all on that patch of grass. By cutting the sidewalk AROUND it, they made it far more functional. It cuts the most sports friendly part of the park in half if you put the primary pedestrian walkway through the center of it.
There is a reason to this rhyme, and I quite like it the way it is.
The fact that the area directly between the Millennium and Platte River Bridges is the most functional, sports friendly space in the park just attests to what a poor design the park is.
For all you efficiency and time obsessed pedestrian commuters living West of the Platte… I think you've overlooked something that is sure to outrage. The bridge crosses the river at an angle! All those extra seconds you spend every year (~60) having to look at the water flow and listen to the birds sing when you could be doing something else like standing in line at Starbucks. Immediately march on city hall to get a new bridge built perpendicular to the river!
I didn't realize that the park closed at 11pm. That's much more of a concern for me than the position of a sidewalk – if they want to keep Downtown alive at night, why would they close off one of its major walkways? How do you get across I-25 if you're walking home from the bars?
They can't be worried about people getting mugged in the park if they have cops there anyway. Are they worried about people hooking up there?
This is in reference to the person who said New Yorkers don't demand side walks on the central park lawn…thats because the law is central and is surrounded by efficient paths. The park was designed so the lawn was not in the middle of a major pedestrian thoroughfare…Un like this current situation.
Wow 56 comments over a ridiculous little rounded cement pathway. Give me a break, I've walked many times through the park and NOT once have I ever walked across the grass because goodness, it might save me all of 30 seconds. Gee whiz, why didn't we just build a big ole pedestrian tunnel OVER the park…that way, you wouldn't be at all inconvenienced by that rotten path of grass…oh yeh, in the park.
Considering that major metro bike paths converge in platte valley and it is bike central for metro denver, it is highly probable that the curves were designed to slow down bike riders so they aren't racing in a straight line right down the middle of the park at 15-20+ mph to reach the ped/bike bridges. Their speed would be lowered to 7-15mph by intellegent design.
joeindt — you make a great point about bike velocity on multi-use paths. Glad you raised it because I think it’s an issue on *all* the near downtown ped paths (Cherry Creek, Platter River trail, etc). 15-20 mph bikers are traveling 5-10 times the speed of pedestrians. That is equivalent to allowing, say, a few trucks to drive 150+ mph down Speer Blvd… I’ve personally been hit three times by speeding Lance Armstrong wannabes. I think this is a big detriment to the overall pleasantness and usability of the area multi-use paths by pedestrians.
That said, I definitely don’t think winding sidewalks is the solution. Just like streets, I think a little governance is called for. Unfortunately the Parks & Rec department has no big interest.
On the 11:00pm curfew: Anybody walk across the 15 Street bridge after a couple or five at My Brothers Bar? Can be scary with 20-ton buses whipping by one foot from you. Anybody have any idea if/whether those sidewalks might be widened more to CPV/LoDo spec?
Anon 4/17 2:24, I'm with you! Getting from 15th & Little Raven to the Platte River Bridge (via the park) is dizzying. I've got a decent start on a more direct route. I think it should be good and beaten down by mid-summer or so for anyone who wants to check it out.
The signs are the problem, not the footpath. They're ugly and pretty much amount to a "Keep Off Grass" scolding. Is this "desire path" the only of its kind on the park?
The point of the photo is that of all the places and directions people can and do walk on the grass, the MOST popular one is the engraved straight line trail between the bridge and the toilette. Putting signs up will not prevent the trail being cut, because the rule is not "keep off the grass" the rule is "keep off the grass in this here straight line." Not gonna work, no way, no how!