{"id":794620,"date":"2019-04-08T16:56:01","date_gmt":"2019-04-08T22:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/e-bikes-coming-this-summer-to-a-summit-county-recpath-near-you\/"},"modified":"2019-04-08T16:56:01","modified_gmt":"2019-04-08T22:56:01","slug":"e-bikes-coming-this-summer-to-a-summit-county-recpath-near-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/e-bikes-coming-this-summer-to-a-summit-county-recpath-near-you\/","title":{"rendered":"E-bikes \u2014 coming this summer to a Summit County recpath near you?"},"content":{"rendered":"
A mirror reflects a tight corner view on the Summit County Recpath system as a cyclist pedals Aug. 31 in Dillon. Electric bicycles are not currently allowed on the county recpath, but that could change this summer with county officials leading a charge to update the rules and regulations.<\/strong>
Hugh Carey \/ hcarey@summitdaily.com | File<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

E-bikes could hit the Summit County Recpath this summer without any fear of riders running afoul of the county\u2019s rules and regulations.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a hot debate for years, with electric bicycles permitted on most Summit County routes that regular bicycles can go, with a few key exceptions, including a ban on the vehicles from the 56-plus miles of paved trails included in the county\u2019s recpath system.<\/p>\n

That could soon change, however, with county and town leaders considering side-by-side measures this week that, if approved, would finally allow one specific type of e-bikes on the recpath.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the Summit Board of County Commissioners and Breckenridge Town Council are poised to consider separate proposals that would amend the town\u2019s and county\u2019s rules to allow Class I e-bikes on the recpath.<\/p>\n

For reference, a Class I e-bike has an electric motor that helps a rider only when the rider is pedaling, and the motor cuts out when the e-bike reaches speeds of 20 mph of greater. In contrast, Class II e-bikes have motors that are controlled by throttles and assist riders regardless of whether the rider is pedaling or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel like it\u2019s the right level of approval for our community, and it certainly matches the direction that the county is taking,\u201d said Scott Reid, Breckenridge\u2019s director of recreation, of the proposed ordinance.<\/p>\n

And he is correct: The town\u2019s ordinance mirrors another measure that\u2019s coming before the Summit Board of County Commissioners, who on March 26 asked county staff to prepare such a proposal.<\/p>\n

Knowing the county controls the vast majority of the recpath system, Breckenridge has deferred making any decision about e-bikes on the 3.6 miles of recpath in town, opting instead to leave it up to the county commissioners so the rules concerning e-bikes remain consistent countywide.<\/p>\n

The county\u2019s open space and trails resource specialist Michael Wurzel said he expects other towns in Summit County to follow suit, too. He\u2019s not sure exactly where each one is at this moment, but he anticipates they will be looking to either clarify or update their rules governing e-bikes on the recpath in the coming months with the county taking the lead.<\/p>\n

In Frisco, e-bikes are currently allowed on town-owned sections of the recpath, but dockless bikes and a more general discussion about e-bikes are on Frisco Town Council\u2019s agenda for April 23.<\/p>\n

The timing of the county-led update concerning e-bikes coincides with the onset of the busy summer tourist season, when many people will be coming to Summit County to hike, fish or bike the surrounding landscape.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the intention behind getting this done now,\u201d Wurzel said, explaining that the Memorial Day Weekend is typically thought of as the kickoff to summer and he would like to have a consistent set of regulations in place for the season.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to say that even if the county\u2019s and Breckenridge\u2019s measures are both ultimately approved, as it\u2019s expected they will be, the unpaved, non-motorized trails in Summit County would remain off-limits to e-bikes.<\/p>\n

Speaking about the possibility that e-bikes could someday be permitted on these trails, Wurzel said there\u2019s \u201cno political will\u201d at this time to even consider it. Plus, many of these trails in Summit County are actually managed by U.S. Forest Service, which doesn\u2019t allow e-bikes on the trails anyway.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis policy would only pertain to the recpath system,\u201d Reid said of the proposed ordinance in Breckenridge, adding that e-bikes are currently allowed on town streets; the town\u2019s motorized, designated single-track trails; and on the town\u2019s network of backcountry roads.<\/p>\n

Summit County has been blessed with a wealth of open space and trails throughout the area. As Reid explained, some are open to mountain bikes while others have been authorized for motorized vehicles, like ATVs, dirt bike motorcycles, off-road jeeps and trucks, and even e-bikes.<\/p>\n

However, allowing e-bikes on the recpath system would represent a significant shift in local policy, as the electric bicycles have been banned from the county\u2019s recpath since at least 2016.<\/p>\n

While Breckenridge recently laid down a new set of rules for dockless bike-sharing programs after last summer\u2019s rollout of 25 e-bike rentals in town, those efforts were targeted at bike-sharing programs, not e-bikes in general.<\/p>\n

Rather, the move to consider allowing e-bikes on the recpath can actually be traced back to state legislation that took effect in August 2017, when Colorado began permitting Class I and Class II e-bikes on pedestrian pathways where bicycles are also allowed.<\/p>\n

While state lawmakers loosened their controls on e-bikes, the legislature largely left the decision up to local governments by giving them control of where e-bikes are permitted in their individual jurisdictions.<\/p>\n

Overall, the county\u2019s recpath system covers over 56 miles, going from Silverthorne and Dillon, around Lake Dillon, up to Frisco and over to Breckenridge in one direction and Copper Mountain and Vail in another.<\/p>\n

Unlike Summit County, Vail has already instituted measures<\/a> to allow for the use of e-bikes on its paved recreational pathways, which were approved in February 2018.<\/p>\n

If passed on Tuesday, the proposals before the Summit County Commissioners and Breckenridge Town Council would need to another approval on second reading before the could take effect.<\/p>\n

While Breckenridge recently laid down a new set of rules for dockless bike-sharing programs<\/a> following last summer\u2019s rollout<\/a> of about 25 e-bike rentals in town, those efforts were targeted at bike-sharing programs, not e-bikes in general.<\/p>\n

The county has designed a specific webpage to developments regarding e-bikes at Co.Summit.co.Us\/1185\/ebikes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A mirror reflects a tight corner view on the Summit County Recpath system as a cyclist pedals Aug. 31 in Dillon. Electric bicycles are not currently allowed on the county recpath, but that could change this summer with county officials leading a charge to update the rules and regulations.Hugh Carey \/ hcarey@summitdaily.com | File E-bikes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-794620","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-14 10:59:09","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794620\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}