Bow Mar Advances Gates at Two Public-Road Entrances

Gate plan moves ahead

Bow Mar’s board of trustees voted unanimously Monday to move ahead with an engineering firm on a plan for gates at two of the town’s three main entrances. The town also would close a smaller entrance near Tufts Avenue.

The first gate could be installed at the Sheridan Boulevard entrance as early as Thanksgiving and begin operating in mid-January. Bow Mar has not said whether the gates would close all day or only during busy travel periods, or how residents would pass through them.

A traffic study counted about 1,200 vehicles traveling through Bow Mar each day, with most driven by people who do not live in the town. Bow Mar, located between Denver and Littleton, has about 950 residents. Zillow estimates the town’s average home value at about.

Town officials previously added speed bumps, children-at-play signs and a 20 mph speed limit. The gate proposal followed an incident in which a vehicle ended up in Bowles Lake.

Denver and Littleton object

Denver and Littleton sent Bow Mar a joint letter asking the town to pause the plan and work with both cities on another approach. The cities said Bow Mar residents use their roads and that residents of Denver and Littleton should receive comparable access to Bow Mar’s roads.

Denver City Council member Kevin Flynn said restricting the entrances would disrupt traffic and remove access to the traffic signal at Quincy Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard. Columbine Valley Police patrol Bow Mar, but accident reports requested by CBS Colorado had not been received at the time of its report.