Cyclists will be asked to slow their roll in Avon this summer

Like much of Eagle County, Avon has dealt with challenges regulating the speed at which travelers — namely, bikers — move on its paved pedestrian paths. This summer, the town will take a new tactic to encourage people to slow down.

Instead of the dismount zones the town has employed for the last two summers in Harry A. Nottingham Park, which ask cyclists to dismount and walk their bikes for a stretch on the north side of the park, the town will implement a number of slow zones. 

All paved recreation paths within Harry A. Nottingham Park, along the Main Street Mall and Eagle Valley Regional Trail within town are set to become slow zones this summer, following Town Council direction at its April 22 meeting.

Avon is leaning on the county’s definition of slow zones, which includes traveling at the appropriate speed for the path and yielding to fellow trail users by slowing down, communicating and being prepared to stop. The town did not put an official speed limit on “slow” travel. 

Dismount zones see mixed adherence, leading town to slow zones

Avon contains about 7.5 miles of paved trails. In addition to pedestrians, strollers and other lower speed travelers, bicycles and class one and two e-bikes — which include pedal assist and/or the use of a throttle up to 20 miles per hour — are permitted to travel on these trails.

Support Local Journalism

Donate

In recent years, members of Town Council and town staff have heard concerns over the speed at which some cyclists travel on these paths.

Michael Labagh, Avon’s recreation director, said he heard concerns about bike-related safety on the town’s paved paths about a dozen times last summer.

ECO Trails has also struggled with establishing and enforcing a speed limit, said Gary Brooks, council member who has served on the ECO Trails committee. “It’s really, ‘do the best you can and hope for the best,'” Brooks said. “We’re not the only ones dealing with this. It’s county wide.”

For the last two years, Avon has attempted to elevate safety by establishing dismount zones for cyclists on the north side of Harry A. Nottingham Park by the playground between Memorial Day and Labor Day from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The dismount zones were selected because they were deemed the busiest area of the park. But the dismount zones have not been completely effective in slowing speedy travelers.

“This problem that we’ve faced with the dismount zone is that it has been difficult to enforce, it causes confusion and frustration across user groups,” Labagh said.

The town put up temporary signage in the form of sandwich boards to demarcate the dismount zones.

“Only so many people will abide by the signs,” Labagh said. “Although verbal warnings and reeducation were given all last summer, we’re back before you really wanting to discuss what is going to make the most sense from a user standpoint as well as from the town’s standpoint on how to best enforce and promote safest park use on multi-use paved paths.”

Though the town has not conducted any formal studies on the effectiveness of the dismount zones, Labagh said from what he personally witnessed, adherence to the dismount zones was about “50/50. I’d see families walking with their bikes responsibly and following the rules, and others just whizzing right by. It’s hard to tell when we don’t have full oversight in the park.”

Avon town staff does not have the capacity to patrol Harry A. Nottingham Park or the rest of the paved trails all day, every day, and there are no surveillance cameras pointed specifically at the park’s dismount zones.

Avon’s trails and parks are the domain of the town’s recreation department. But when enforcement is needed in these areas, that responsibility falls to the Avon Police Department’s code enforcement officers, first hired in late 2023 to oversee the town’s new parking management program.

While Avon’s code enforcement officers are responsible for monitoring the town’s parks, from conducting animal welfare checks for off-leash dogs to enforcing dismount zones, they also have a wealth of other responsibilities.

For this summer, Labagh recommended the town replace the dismount zones with a wealth of slow zones, in which signage indicates to travelers that they need to control their speed and be aware of others on the path. “I think it would provide us a clear path forward for a good balance between enforcement and responsible education and use by the community,” Labagh said.

The council gave Labagh direction to implement slow zones instead of dismount zones.

“Don’t slow your roll, Michael. Just go for it,” said Tamra Nottingham Underwood, Avon’s mayor.