On March 12, Boulder County Parks and Open Space closed a bridge on the Boulder Canyon Bike Path adjacent to Highway 119, leaving cyclists with no safe alternative but to ride on a winding canyon road with high-speed traffic. The closure stretched on without a detour, with limited notice given to the cycling community, as county staff struggled to move on a resolution.
The stakes here are not abstract. This bridge was built because a cyclist was killed on Highway 119 in 1991 while navigating the very gap the path was designed to close. It was the last missing link in a safe, continuous route. Closing it without a viable alternative recreated the exact conditions that cost a life more than thirty years ago.
Community Cycles, the Boulder Mountainbike Alliance and others took up the cause on behalf of Boulder County’s thousands of everyday cyclists — commuters and recreational riders who depend on this route. Community Cycles worked directly with our county commissioners to push for action. Commissioners Ashley Stolzmann and Claire Levy answered the call. They understood what was at stake and made things happen. Twenty days after the closure Boulder County Parks and Open Space completed a temporary repair and reopened the bridge the next day. .
Commissioners Stolzmann and Levy demonstrated exactly what responsive local government looks like — they heard from constituents, grasped the urgency, and delivered. The cycling community owes them a genuine debt of gratitude. To their credit, once Boulder County Parks and Open Space focused on the problem, they moved swiftly to find a solution. We thank them for that.
We hope this experience leads to stronger protocols for future infrastructure closures, including timely community notification and safe detour planning. But today, we simply say thank you to the commissioners who made this right.
Sue Prant
Executive Director
Community Cycles
2601 Spruce Street, Unit B
Boulder CO 80302
This letter to the editor was submitted to the Boulder Daily Camera, April 3, 2026