Bicyclists soon could share the transitway on Denver’s 16th Street Mall with MallRide buses all weekend long — instead of only on Sundays — and that’s just the start. Other bike projects planned for downtown this year are aimed at attracting more visitors and commuters on two wheels by making riding easier, safer and more convenient.

City leaders also are discussing ways that Denver could up its game by setting aside serious money for better-protected bikeways into and out of downtown, in all directions.

Denver’s upcoming projects could help narrow the gap with other cities known for being bicycle-friendly, advocates say. Portland, Ore., Minneapolis and Washington, D.C., are among those with more bicyclists and with more who commute to work by bike.

Councilman Albus Brooks and other supporters say they’re mindful friction may crop up as more bike lanes — sometimes taking traffic lanes from cars — frustrate some drivers still getting used to sharing the road.

“There’s going to be resistance,” he predicted, but he sees the potential trade-offs in parking-crunched downtown as worthwhile.

“Everybody will be talking about parking that could be taken out. But the message is (that) if you’re coming downtown, we want you to think twice about being in a vehicle.”

Here is what’s on downtown’s bicycling radar:

• Public works officials on Wednesday will present the City Council’s Infrastructure & Culture Committee with a proposal to allow Saturday bicycling on the mall’s busways. As on Sundays, when bicyclists for years have had access, they would share space with MallRide buses that pass by a maximum 13 times an hour, versus 40 times during the week.

• Near Union Station, the city and several partners, including the Union Station Neighborhood Company, are working out mostly private funding for a $2 million bike hub. It could open this fall or early next year on the new Wewatta Plaza, between 15th and 16th streets. The hub would provide two-wheeled commuters with paid secure bike storage, locker rooms and showers.

• Drawing on the city’s first “protected” bike lane last year on 15th Street, with bollards separating bikes from cars except near intersections, public works is preparing to install a pair of “parking-protected” lanes along Arapahoe and Lawrence streets. The projects involve moving street parking out from the curb and creating space for bicyclists that is buffered from traffic on the other side of parked cars.

• A $200,000 city study will look at a similar parking-buffered setup for two-way bicycle traffic along Broadway from Colfax Avenue south to Interstate 25. The idea is part of the recent Golden Triangle Neighborhood Plan. Bicycling advocates hope to see the concept extended farther north up Broadway and Brighton Boulevard.

Brooks is among those who envision the Broadway plan as only the first step for costlier ideas that would remake certain streets to better accommodate pedestrians and bicyclists — and, in some cases, potentially reduce lanes available for vehicle traffic.

Ideas from Denmark

The city has been receiving technical and strategic advice from the national Green Lane Project, organized by Boulder-based PeopleForBikes, which advocates for better bikeways. And Brooks says a trip to Copenhagen, Denmark, with other city and civic leaders gave them ideas to adapt for Denver. The city has more projects underway elsewhere, including turning side streets into “bike boulevards.”

Brooks says he will push in the city’s 2016 budget discussions to begin setting aside $15 million to 20 million over the next five years for near-downtown projects similar to the potential Broadway plan, focusing on bike and pedestrian access. That would need Mayor Michael Hancock’s sign-off.

His aim: to feed downtown with protected bikeways from all four directions.

While those would cater mostly to commuters, Emily Snyder, Denver’s urban mobility manager, says the weekend mall access may serve different groups, including casual riders, shoppers and tourists.

The city already allows pedicabs and horse-drawn carriages on the mall at certain times.

Adding more bicycle access “is really an indicator to residents of Denver that we are trying to move people, and not just vehicles,” said Molly North, executive director of advocacy group Bike Denver. “If we want to have a bike-friendly community, we really can’t have bike bans on certain roadways.

“It’s creating an opportunity for people on bikes to arrive at a destination using the shortest, most convenient route.”

Bike lanes typically are embraced by Denver’s neighborhood groups, and even the libertarian-leaning Independence Institute says their installation often makes sense. But the institute cautions against using federal grants to pay for them instead of local tax dollars or other sources in line with improving roads.

Still, the city’s recent bike lane efforts haven’t drawn universal acclaim — even among bicyclists.

Sharing space

Some drivers on one-way 15th Street have complained about the protected bike lane. Approaching intersections, bicyclists share space with left-turning cars, causing confusion and safety concerns.

“We’ve learned from that installation,” North said, “that there are some considerations, like intersections and connections to (other) bike lanes, that could drastically improve them.”

The expanded bikes-on-the-mall proposal drew support in December from the 25-member Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Committee. The panel is led by former Denver B-cycle director Parry W. Burnap and includes one of Brooks’ opponents in the May 5 election, Ean Tafoya.

Its letter to the city acknowledged potential safety concerns for pedestrians but said the plan gave the city a chance to learn lessons it could apply to future corridors.

North agreed and said she was eager to hear public works officials’ plans for public education at Wednesday’s meeting. The city also plans to install more signs to alert bicyclists where side-street bike lanes cross the mall.

The various bikeways plans also are winning backing from business interests. The Downtown Denver Partnership, which tracks mobility among downtown workers, supports the mall bicycling expansion to better accommodate riders.

It also raised more than $150,000 in private money for the design of the Arapahoe Street-protected lane, including $36,085 from a crowdfunding appeal on the ioby.org website.

Jon Murray: 303-954-1405, jmurray@denverpost.com or twitter.com/JonMurray

Pedaling downtown

6.6%

of downtown workers commuted by bike, according to a Downtown Denver Partnership’s survey last year. That’s up 43 percent from 2013 and more than double census estimates that 2-3 percent of residents citywide bike to work.

185,815

B-cycles were checked out last year, a 49 percent increase.