Littleton neighbors rally for bike and pedestrian safety

It's been nearly two weeks since Littleton seventh grader, Liam Stewart, was hit by a car and killed while biking to school near Euclid Middle School. In late September, a pedestrian was struck and killed by a car near the intersection of Santa Fe and Bowles. Littleton Police have made an arrest in that case, but investigation is ongoing into Stewart's death.

Now the community is renewing calls to make changes on the streets of Littleton.

Snow didn't stop Littleton residents from rallying for bike and pedestrian safety over the weekend. 

"I think that we should be able to make mistakes and have it not end the way that things have been ending," said one rally attendee.

"For a lot of people, the choice of riding a bike or driving in a car isn't a question of personal preference, it's a necessity. And this underscores that," said Matthew Duff, Vibrant Littleton founding member. 

In the wake of the two recent roadway killings, organizations Vibrant Littleton and Littleton Social Cycle gathered outside Littleton Public Schools to renew calls for safer streets. 

"I just can't help but think if we would design our streets with safety instead of speed in mind for cars this maybe would not have happened," said Littleton parent Phillip McCart. 

The rally called on elected officials to prioritize funding towards creating safer routes to school and becoming a more pedestrian-friendly city. 

"We wanted that older main street style feel of a city and Littleton has that, and it has the bones where we could make fantastic infrastructure to get kids to school safely," said Duff. 

The group hopes to make changes now, to protect the next generation. 

"I'm really hoping that we can get to that point one day where I can just have her ride her bike to school without worrying about her getting hurt," said McCart, while holding his 9-month-old daughter Genevieve. 

Littleton's mayor, Kyle Schlachter, was at that rally and says he's in support of the ideas expressed. He says the city is working with the school district on a Safe-Routes-to-School grant, mapping out the safest walking routes to and from schools. They've put several million dollars into pedestrian and bike infrastructure in the last four years. 

The city of Littleton provided the following comment to CBS Colorado about the ongoing work: 

The City Council is expected to direct staff to accelerate the update to our bicycle and pedestrian plan, which was scheduled for late in 2024. There will be a study session November 28, once the new City Council is seated (at least two new members and potentially three following the November 7 election). The study session will review progress to date on the bike and pedestrian components of the 2019 Transportation Master Plan (34 of 77 bike and pedestrian capital projects are funded and in some phase of planning, design, or construction), and will recommend a process moving forward that would include a community forum in Jan/Feb to hear from residents. The next step will be a process (likely in partnership with a consultant) to learn about the best practices across the country for bike and pedestrian infrastructure and identify the highest priority areas for implementation.  With these recommendations, we can complete the plan update and the Council can consider funding options and trade-offs with the existing capital plan to accelerate this heightened priority.