In our September 2025 issue of The Pedal Post (eNewsletter), Bike Fort Collins posed the question: “Have you experienced conflict or felt unsafe while traveling through the intersection of North Mason Street and Cherry Street?”
Thank you to those who responded. Below is a recap of the results.
WHAT HAPPENED?
In addition, for those who reported conflict, we asked them to describe their experience. Here is a sampling of the responses we received:
- “Blinking yellow seems like a voluntary stop. I often like to go left when its busy.“
- “Going south from the Poudre trail, it’s difficult to know whether to cross at Cherry via the sidewalk bike path and how I should get to the southbound bike lane of Mason.“
- “Crossing North is fine. But going South from the museum requires you to cross in front of Mason vehicles if you use the warning lights.“
- “Crossing Cherry when riding from Poudre Trail to Mason St I always feel uncomfortable with how I see the traffic coming from the west on Cherry.“
- “This is on my daily commute. I primarily travel eastbound Cherry to northbound Mason, and vice versa. This is usually uneventful. Sometimes, I need to travel straight through the intersection southbound on Mason. I find the transition from the southbound protected crossing to the southbound bike lane on Mason to be very awkward. Cars turning right from northbound Mason to eastbound Cherry are not looking right towards the crossing to see if foot or bike traffic is waiting there to cross.“
- “A few years ago, a small “pedestrian bulb” appeared on the North side of Cherry, just East of Mason. The result is that, when a motor vehicle and a bicycle travel through this, the legally required 3 foot space between them cannot be maintained. This is a serious hazard.“
- “Confusing cross for bikes.“
HOW CAN IT BE IMPROVED?
Finally, we asked respondents how they thought the intersection/facility could be improved. Here is a sampling of the responses we received:
- “Not sure.”
- “More guiding colors? Directional arrows?”
- “Make a double crosswalk/warning lights at the crossing.”
- “Could this be a four-way stop? I know there are pluses and minuses in having yet another four way stop, but they really clarify when it is safe for a bicycle to cross the street!”
- “This is a pretty good intersection overall. I think it could be improved by adding a diagonal protected crossing to create a path from SB Mason trail to SB Mason St bike lane, similar to the approach used at Loomis and Laporte to guide southbound bike and ped traffic across the offset crossing.”
- “Remove that small “pedestrian bulb”. Another improvement would be a switch for the ped/bike crossing of Cherry at Mason be installed so that cyclists and access it without dismounting.”
- “Pedestrian crosswalks on both sides of Mason. We don’t necessarily need two RRFBs.”
- “More flashing cross lights.”
- “Needs sidewalk on South side of Cherry all the way to college..”
Again, thank you to all who responded—and for sharing their experiences. Stay tuned for additional surveys inquiring about other intersections and bicycle facilities.
If you have an intersection that you would like featured, please contact Timothy Wooten at tim.wooten@bikefortcollins.org