## Facts

- The City of Black Hawk is a Colorado home-rule municipality.
- In 2009, the City enacted an ordinance authorizing prohibitions on bicycles and other nonmotorized vehicles on city streets deemed incompatible with safety and normal traffic flow, citing narrow roads and heavy commercial traffic.
- The City amended its municipal code to remove language requiring a suitable alternative bike path within 450 feet before prohibiting bicycling on a roadway.
- After a compatibility study rated bicycle compatibility on certain streets from moderately low to very low, the City in 2010 banned bicycles on most streets, including Gregory Street, the only continuous route through town between State Highway 119 and Central City.
- Recreational bicyclists rode on Gregory Street, were cited under the ordinance, and were fined.
- The bicyclists argued the ban violated section 42-4-109(11), C.R.S., which permits local bicycle prohibitions only if a suitable bike path or trail exists within 450 feet of the roadway.

## Issues

1. Whether regulation of bicycle traffic on municipal streets is a matter of local, statewide, or mixed concern under Colorado home-rule principles.
2. If the subject is of mixed concern, whether the City’s bicycle-ban ordinance conflicts with and is preempted by section 42-4-109(11), C.R.S., when no suitable alternative route is provided within 450 feet.

## Decision

- The Colorado Supreme Court reversed the district court’s judgment upholding the ordinance and convictions.
- The Court held that regulation of bicycle traffic on municipal streets is a matter of mixed state and local concern.
- The Court held the ordinance conflicted with section 42-4-109(11), C.R.S., because it prohibited bicycles without providing a suitable alternative bike path or trail within 450 feet.
- Because of this conflict in an area of mixed concern, the ordinance was preempted by state law, and the bicyclists’ convictions and fines were vacated.

## Legal Principles

- A home-rule municipality has plenary authority over matters of local concern, but its authority is limited when a local ordinance conflicts with a state statute addressing matters of statewide or mixed concern.
- Regulation of bicycle traffic on municipal streets implicates both local safety/traffic management and statewide interests in uniform traffic rules and through-travel; it is therefore a matter of mixed state and local concern.
- In a matter of mixed concern, a home-rule ordinance that conflicts with a state statute is preempted.
- Section 42-4-109(11), C.R.S., unambiguously conditions a local prohibition of bicycles on the existence of a suitable bike path or trail within 450 feet of the roadway; a local ordinance eliminating that condition conflicts with state law.

## Conclusion

The Colorado Supreme Court held that municipal bicycle regulation is a mixed state and local concern and that a home-rule city may not ban bicycles on roadways without providing the alternative route required by section 42-4-109(11), C.R.S.; the conflicting ordinance was preempted and the resulting citations were invalid.


Webb v. City of Black Hawk, 295 P.3d 480 (Colo. 2013)