Driving You Crazy: What are the odd pavement markings next to the bike lane on Union Ave. in the DTC?

DENVER — Peter from Denver writes, “What’s driving you crazy? Hi Jayson. Near Ulster & Union in the DTC is an odd pavement marking which appears to be used to direct right turning drivers to either the far right or stay away from the bike lane. Is there a definitive reference I can use to interpret the street markings?”

There is a bike lane that runs in both directions along E. Union Avenue between S. Monaco Street and DTC Boulevard. The markings you are referring to are little slivers of white line painted next to the outside bike lane line. That extra little line is supposed to say to drivers, don’t cross the double white lines and into or through the bike lane.

Jayson Luber

Why are those double white lines in these little isolated spots? They are supposed to be placed where a driver might be making a right turn into a driveway, roadway or parking lot along E. Union Avenue so they don’t use the bike lane as a right turn lane.

I spent an hour watching traffic coming west on Union from DTC Boulevard wanting to see how drivers handled the two instances of these double white line sections. One is at the right turn to get into parking garage of the 4601 DTC Boulevard office building. The other is the entrance to the parking lot for the 4610 S. Ulster Street office building.

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The majority of the drivers I saw drifted over the double white lines and into the bike lane to make those right turns. One driver stayed in the bike lane from DTC Boulevard all the way to the right turn. Maybe one out of every 12 drivers I saw waited until after the double white lines to make the hard right turn into either of the driveways. Never did I see a bike rider in the bike lane during the time I was watching.

The other spot along the westbound side of Union the double white lines appear is at S. Newport Street lasting until just before Monaco Street.

On the eastbound side there are a couple places the double white lines are present. The very odd one is next to the Marriott hotel. The double white line runs for about 450 feet, but there is no right turn anywhere along that stretch. The solid lines change to dashed lines just before the right turn to go south on S. Syracuse Street indicating to drivers that they can merge over the bike lane to make that turn toward E. Belleview Avenue.

I asked Denver’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) about that seemingly odd placement of the double line. They didn’t really answer the question saying, “The double white lines are a buffer between the travel lane and bike lane to maintain horizontal distance between drivers and bicyclists, which provides more comfort and safety to bicyclists biking on Union Ave.” They added that if parking is permitted along the curb, drivers are allowed to cross the stripes to access parking.

The other place along eastbound Union the double lines are present is between S. Ulster Street and just shy of the right turn at DTC Boulevard with a slight break for the entrance to the parking lot at the building at 8110 E Union Avenue.

While it is technically breaking a city ordinance to cross those double white lines, don’t expect Denver police to be doing a sting to catch offenders. That falls in the department's policy prohibiting officers from stopping vehicles solely for low-level, non-safety-related infractions.

Denver7 Traffic Expert Jayson Luber says he has been covering Denver-metro traffic since Ben-Hur was driving a chariot. (We believe the actual number is over 25 years.) He's obsessed with letting viewers know what's happening on their drive and the best way to avoid the problems that spring up. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram or listen to his award winning Driving You Crazy podcast on any podcast app including iTunes, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Podbean, or YouTube.