Three bicycles splattered with blood-like red paint greeted motorists Tuesday morning along the stretch of Folsom Street where Boulder officials recently rolled back a controversial test of buffered bike lanes.

One of the bicycles was placed in a median on Folsom just north of Canyon Boulevard, another near Pearl Street and a third at the Spruce Street crossing.

All three were covered in red paint that appeared to be mimicking blood. The paint also was splashed on the street and the median.

There were no written messages near any of the bicycles Tuesday morning. It’s not clear when they were placed on Folsom or who was responsible for putting them there.

City crews were scheduled to remove the bikes and see whether any work needs to be done due to the red paint, city spokeswoman Deanna Voss said.

“They will evaluate if they need to take any further action to remove the paint,” Voss said.

The bicycles are considered abandoned and will be given to the Boulder Police Department.

Folsom Street between Canyon and Spruce is the stretch of the road where crews removed the plastic bollards and pavement markings to undo the city’s “right-sizing” project, restoring the street to four vehicle lanes.

Supporters of the project have complained that the city sacrificed bicyclist safety by removing the buffers that protected rides using the bike lanes.

The protected bicycle lanes were installed earlier this summer as part of the city’s Living Lab Pilot Program to improve safety for cyclists and drivers at the cost of $170,000 for taxpayers.

But amid concerns about traffic and impact on local business with winter approaching, city staff last month recommended the project be rolled back.

While biking past the paint-covered bicycle at Folsom and Spruce on Tuesday morning, Andy Watt said the fake blood and the demonstration were a little bit too much.

“Bikers can go a little overboard sometimes,” Watt said.

Watt said he didn’t mind the right-sizing project as a cyclist, but also thought it wasn’t completely necessary and, as a driver, didn’t like the traffic it occasionally caused.

“It was nice to have a little bit of a buffer between me and the cars,” Watt said. “But I also drive Folsom and there was definitely backed traffic up in the afternoons.”

But bicycling advocate Eric Budd said the displays represented a real concern for Boulder cyclists.

“It’s a graphic visual, but, at the same time, that’s the reality if you ride a bike,” Budd said. “If you live in the reality of unsafe streets every day, it’s really not ‘overboard’ at all.”

Budd, who helped organize a ride to “mourn” the removal of the protected bike lanes, said he was not aware of who might have put the bicycles on Folsom. But he was not surprised to see people expressing themselves on the topic, even if the method may have been unorthodox.

“It’s a different style, not my style, but, at the same time, it evokes a reaction that I think exemplifies what people riding bikes are really concerned about, which is primarily safety,” Budd said.

Mitchell Byars: 303-473-1329, byarsm@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/mitchellbyars