Revitalizing Main Streets Grant Award
COLORADO SPRINGS- The City of Colorado Springs received a Revitalizing Main Streets grant award of $149,999 from the Colorado Department of Transportation to expand its PikeRide E-Bike Share Program. The grant award will support the installation of nine additional PikeRide electric bike stations across the City of Colorado Springs. The grant award will fund the purchase of 90 electric-assist bikes while ten additional bikes will be funded through a 10% match. This will increase PikeRide’s e-bike station density in Colorado Springs neighborhoods, providing better connectivity to many amenities, including the Mountain Metro Transit stop.
“Visitors and locals love using E-Bikes around Colorado Springs and this state grant funding will help expand the program, increase convenience and help drive customers to our thriving small businesses and other local attractions,” said Governor Jared Polis.
“The Revitalizing Main Streets grant from CDOT will benefit our city’s residents, visitors, employers, and businesses,” said Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers. “Providing additional PikeRide electric bikes supports our vibrant workforce by creating better connectivity from surrounding neighborhoods to a variety of restaurants, shops, attractions and high-density employment areas.”
“E-bikes provide an efficient and green alternative to local commuting options” said CDOT Executive Director Shoshana Lew, “CDOT is excited about the expansion of the PikeRide e-bike fleet because this means more availability and accessibility for folks in Colorado Springs to use e-bikes to get to their destinations.”
PikeRide is the nation’s first year-round all-electric-assist bike share program, launched in June of 2018 with purple pedal bikes under the charitable nonprofit arm of Downtown Partnership in Colorado Springs. PikeRide simultaneously transitioned to its own 501c3 non-profit and converted to an entire electric fleet of Drop Mobility bikes in 2019, and has seen tremendous growth since introducing electric bikes. By the end of 2021, PikeRide will have completely doubled in size since its 2018 launch.
“We are very excited for this opportunity to connect more of our neighborhoods with PikeRide. This grant will provide an additional 100 electric bike share bikes, bringing the PikeRide fleet up to almost 400 bikes,” said PikeRide Executive Director Jolie NeSmith. “This grant will support more neighborhoods with better connectivity to our local transit system, grocery stores, and high density employment/retail areas while providing a fun, healthy, planet friendly, and cost effective way to get around.”
The Revitalizing Main Streets grants help localities improve their roadways and community infrastructure, supporting strong economic activity and public safety. The program began last summer in an effort to mitigate the negative economic fallout from the COVID-19 crisis. Awarded projects span the entire state, from Denver and Boulder to Hugo and Limon to Frisco and Rifle. Highlights include numerous projects facilitating safe pedestrian access to outdoor dining, improved lighting, sidewalk repair, incorporating “parklets” into streetscapes, and much more.
The continuation and expansion of this program was made possible through a $30 million allocation from the state legislature in March 2021 and those funds are currently available for local government competition, with significant anticipated demand. Importantly, the passage of SB-260 further extends this highly successful program beyond the current grant cycle.
Communities can apply for small grants up to $150,000 for multimodal and economic resiliency projects available on a rolling basis; large grant applications of up to $2 million closed on May 14. For more information, visit the Revitalizing Main Streets page.
