Colorado town plans to change city code so wheelchair users can travel in bike lanes

From The Coloradoan:

People in wheelchairs could legally use bicycle lanes on Fort Collins streets under a proposed change to the city’s traffic code.

Current city regulations allow wheelchairs, which are defined as pedestrians, to use streets where sidewalks are not available. But in the proposed code change, a pedestrian could use a bike lane if the condition of an available sidewalk would “substantially interfere” with that person’s mode of travel.

The proposed regulation gives an absence of pavement, the presence of snow and ice, and uneven or broken pavement as examples of conditions that would allow a wheelchair to use a bike lane.

Members of the disabled community and other advocates have been pushing for the change for two years. Proponents say users of heavy power wheelchairs are safer in the streets than trying to navigate a damaged or blocked sidewalk.

Mike Devereaux (pictured), who uses a power wheelchair to get around the city, said he feels safe using bike lanes. The code change would make him feel secure from a legal perspective, he said.

“It would be reassuring to know I’m not causing any trouble or breaking any laws,” he said.

Devereaux said he is generally comfortable with the language of the code change, although he said the word “substantially” leaves the matter of whether a sidewalk is usable open to interpretation.

The wheelchair user should have sole discretion of whether a sidewalk is safe and passable, he said.

Fort Collins traffic operations staff members support the change, said Joe Olson, the city’s traffic engineer.

The change would basically acknowledge and legalize something that is already happening, he said.

The proposed code change has the support of the city’s transportation board, bicycle advisory committee and the commission on disabilities.

But Fort Collins police do not support allowing wheelchairs in bike lanes because of safety concerns, Lt. Jim Szakmeister said.

The city’s roadways are already busy with vehicles and bicycles, he said. Fort Collins has had nine traffic fatalities this year.

Sidewalks are meant to separate pedestrians, including wheelchairs, from traffic, he said.

“With all the bicycles on the roadway, to add to it and allow people in wheelchairs on the roadway to me seems like a recipe for disaster,” he said.

Police have had few conflicts with wheelchair users in the streets, he said.

When an issue has come up, the wheelchair user has been encouraged to get out of the street as quickly as possible, Szakmeister said.

Wheelchair users “can’t go very far without having to go into the street at some point,” Devereaux said.

Wheelchair users should have options when they travel and be able to choose a route, be it on a sidewalk or bike lane, that makes them feel most comfortable, he said.