Crossing Speer

I am so happy that Denver put in a bike ramp at 12th and Speer. This ramp makes it much easier to access the bike path and allows me to quickly and safely get to my office downtown. That said, I have a problem. At rush hour, it is nearly impossible to cross Speer and access the ramp. This was especially true this morning at around 8:45. Rain was pouring and motorists were frustrated. There was a constant stream of cars going down Speer, although at a very slow pace. Even when they had to stop at a red light, this stream of cars kept slowly lurching forward and would not let me cross the four lanes of Speer in order to get to the ramp. I tried to make it very clear to drivers that I needed to cross. I smiled, I made eye contact, I pointed at the ramp and mouthed "please", but nothing worked. Every now and then a driver would stop and wave me on, but there were 3 other lanes of traffic that kept moving.
Finally, I just decided to ride on Speer and eventually was able to cross all the lanes and make it to the path. I felt comfortable doing this, but I know a lot of cyclists who wouldn't. Maybe a crosswalk needs to be installed here? Or just a big sign that says "please allow cyclists to cross" or something.
When I did make it to the path, it was covered with rotting garbage that had washed out of drainage pipes because of the storm. This didn't bother me, though. I was just happy to be on the path.

Labels: Crossing Speer