What’s the deal with the new dismount zone signs in Vail Village?
Town takes a more forceful approach to get bikers to walk their wheels
Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily
Walking through Vail Village this summer, you’re likely to notice a new addition to the scenery: Vail’s new signage for the bike dismount zone. The signs — featuring red text — alert visitors in the village to “walk your wheels” through the dismount zone, or else they’ll be subject to a $50 fine.
It’s the second year that the town has fully implemented the dismount zone in the village, and this year’s new signage has drawn public comment and discourse, including its own merch.
In addition to an increased number of signs — now 19 signs compared to 13 signs last year — the signs are red instead of green and have the fine amount posted on the sign. Gregg Barrie, the town’s senior landscape architect who has been heavily involved in the project, said last year’s signs were the “nice version,” but that the changes this year are meant to make them more visible.
The need for the dismount zone
It has been a bit of a slow burn to get to the signs that are in place this year.
“This program wasn’t just thrown together; this is the fourth summer of a multi-year process to make the Village more safe for our residents and guests,” Barrie said.
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The “concerns over conflicts” between bikers and pedestrians in the village track back to 2017, Barrie noted.
However, even 10 years ago, the town was contemplating the bike dismount zones in the village.
In June 2013, the Vail Daily reported that the town was considering adding more dismount zone signs. At the time, the paper reported that Chief of Police Dwight Henninger said his department had the authority to post such signs but was seeking Town Council input. It was reported that the rationale for the signs was that “Vail Village business owners complained to the town that cyclists were riding dangerously fast through town.”
However, a week later, The Daily reported that Town Council determined that adding these signs wasn’t necessary and would contradict the messages the town was sending to residents and guests.
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However, since then, there has been an increased volume of both pedestrians and wheeled vehicles that made the town take another look.
Ryan Kenney, Vail’s current police chief, added that while the town has a “strong history of being bike-friendly and making accommodations for bikers,” it has experienced a drastic increase in the volume of wheeled vehicles since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This has caused a lot of friction between wheeled vehicles and pedestrians. We carefully selected areas that have incidents or close calls with wheeled vehicles to make dismount zones,” Kenney said.
Barrie added that through this time, the prevalence of e-bikes has also risen, which “adds a new element in terms of the quantity and speed of bikes.”
Barrie said that concerns have been raised by “longtime citizens, business owners and visitors.”
“The fact is that some bikers were (and still are) really cruising through the busy streets, and that difference in speed makes many people feel uncomfortable. And, there have been collisions,” he said.
So, in 2020, with these concerns continuing, Barrie said the town began to roll out a slow zone — marked by the “turtle on a bike” signs, which are still throughout Lionshead and along Meadow Drive — through the village. In the village, these were initially placed on Bridge Street and Gore Creek Drive where the current dismount zone is.
“There was some hope that a slow zone would get folks to show some courtesy,” Barrie said. “Unfortunately, it didn’t work great in the heart of the village.”
It also has tried signing the zone with ground stickers — with the “walk your wheels” slogan and information — throughout the village. These were implemented during the two previous summers but did not make a return this year.
All of which led to the installation of the “nice” signs in 2021, and now the new ones in 2022. The 19 signs this summer are particularly heavy at the entrances to the village, which each have two posts on each side of the road. These entrance signs account for eight of the signs, Barrie noted.
Are the signs working?
At the initial rollout of the signs at the start of summer, there has been some debate among council members (and community members) about the efficacy of the signs.
Council member Jen Mason said at the June 6 meeting that she had been hearing from business owners that “people are just flying by the dismount zone signs.”
Vail Town Manager Russ Forest noted that “the signs are there so we can take enforcement action,” stating that “signs are never the sole solution.”
Kenney said the rationale behind the signs was not enforcement, but education.
“Vail has many visitors. Each day we have new people come to Vail and some are unfamiliar with the rules. The idea behind additional signage was making it easier for our guests to recognize when they are entering and exiting a dismount zone,” he said.
Still, “the signs do allow us to take enforcement action when appropriate,” Kenney added.
So far this summer, Kenney reported that the town has made over 80 contacts with bikers in the village and “written less than five citations” during 58 hours of dismount zone patrols.
“The officers have discretion to issue warnings or citations. For the most part, the deciding factor between a warning or citation is which one will be effective in changing behavior,” he added.
Although the signs’ design and presence have changed this year, enforcement has not, Kenney said.
Still, on June 6, Council member Travis Coggin suggested that the sign’s presence might be “excessive,” later adding he thought the town could have a “fraction of the signs.”
“I feel like perhaps we’ve jumped the shark on the number of dismount signs,” he said. “I understand the purpose, I understand the goal, but I don’t think signs are achieving the goal in the least. And so, I feel like if we’re not going to have cops in town grabbing everybody, I don’t really know the value of the signs.”
Robyn Smith, speaking during citizen participation later that night, referenced a book she had been reading, tying it into the new signage.
“In the 7th century BC, Assyrians placed signage on the first roads that said, ‘Royal roads, let no man decrease it on the penalty of death and public impalement.’ That did not solve the problem,” Smith said. “In that instance — any instance — in which a transportation conflict can be solved with art and creative expression is something we can embrace.”
Smith then suggested crowdsourcing creative ideas from the community “to address the issue of engagement and outreach for dismount zone season” as well as with other town challenges.
Throughout June, however, these comments have continued to roll in. At the June 20 Town Council meeting, Coggin said he’s continued to get “text messages and voicemails and emails about it.”
One of these emails — from Patti Held — included in the June 20 Town Council packet noted that while she constantly sees riders disregarding the signage, she has not seen enforcement from the town.
“If there will not be any follow-through, then it’s ridiculous to have so many signs and they should be taken down,” Held wrote. “I would prefer to see the discontinuance of bike riding through the center of town, like the signs say.”
However, Coggin noted that the police and code enforcement officers were out there working on enforcement.
“I think it’s something that just takes time, so hopefully that continues on,” he said.
Council member Kevin Foley simply commented to those still riding their bikes: “C’mon folks.”
Avon following suit
Vail is not the only local municipality with such a zone. For the first summer, the town of Avon implemented a bike dismount zone along the north path in Harry A. Nottingham Park. The reasoning, according to Ineke de Jong, the town’s general government manager, is that the town “received multiple complaints regarding bicyclists traveling at an unsafe speed” in the park last summer.
“With the increased popularity of electric bicycles, scooters and skateboards and the increased number of people using the park, staff requested this topic be discussed with the Town Council,” de Jong said.
So, at its May 9 meeting, the Avon Town Council gave direction to designate the north path — which runs along the beach — as a dismount zone. This designation will be in effect between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. daily from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend. Through traffic is encouraged to use the south park path, the Eagle Valley Trail or the bike lane on West Beaver Creek Boulevard.
“So far so good. No irate people,” de Jong said.
