A motorist and a bicyclist collided Tuesday night near East Louisiana Avenue and South Franklin Street, just south of Washington Park, leaving the cyclist with serious injuries. Denver Police say the crash caused delays in the area as officers responded to the scene late Tuesday.
The Denver Police Dept. announced the crash in a post on X shortly before midnight, saying it was investigating a traffic crash with serious injuries involving a motorist and a bicyclist in the area. The department only issues a public Crash Alert, according to the Denver Police Dept., when at least one person involved sustains serious injuries or the crash results in road closures. Denver Police publish crash data on the city’s Open Data Catalog, and residents can reach the department at 720-913-2000 for non-emergency matters or 911 for emergencies.
The intersection sits directly south of Washington Park and adjacent to Denver South High School at 1700 E. Louisiana Ave., making it a heavily traveled residential, school, and park access corridor frequented by cyclists and pedestrians, according to VVECA. It is exactly the kind of shared-space intersection that has drawn scrutiny as Denver grapples with a rise in serious crashes involving people on foot and on bikes.
A Pattern of Injured Cyclists Across Denver
Tuesday’s crash is the latest in a string of serious bicycle collisions Denver Police have flagged this month. Just over a week earlier, a cyclist was seriously hurt downtown on the protected 15th Street bikeway, and another was badly injured at 13th and Humboldt in what was reported at the time as the third such crash that week. Separate crash alerts that same week covered a serious collision at 8th and Federal and a hit-and-run near Knox Court that left a cyclist badly hurt…