The tiny town of Bow Mar has approved gates on public streets to block cut-through traffic. Denver and Littleton are threatening to install their own barriers.
BOW MAR, Colo. — A small Colorado town filled with large homes sandwiched between Denver and Littleton has approved plans to install gates on public streets, blocking outsiders from driving through. Now, two neighboring cities are threatening to fight back.
The Town of Bow Mar, a community of roughly 900 residents and 300 homes on acre lots, has voted to install gates at multiple entry points, including Sheridan Boulevard, a public road. Residents would receive tags on their vehicles to automatically lift the gates. Visitors would need a code.
Littleton Mayor Kyle Schlachter said his city found out about the plan from a resident, not from Bow Mar. The city of Denver said it was not notified either.
“I heard from one of our residents that our neighbor, the town of Bow Mar, was wanting to put up some gates to restrict access to their streets,” Schlachter said.
Schlachter said the cities were shut out of the process.
“Literally locked out of the conversation and access to the right of way,” he said.
This week, Schlachter and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston jointly sent a letter to Bow Mar Mayor Bryan Sperry demanding that the town stop the gate project. The letter warned that if Bow Mar proceeds, Denver and Littleton would install their own barriers on their side of the road, blocking Bow Mar residents’ most convenient routes in and out.
“This project raises serious traffic and safety concerns and could ultimately force Denver and Littleton to take corresponding action to reduce confusion,” a spokesperson for Johnston said. “We’ve been in contact with the Town of Bow Mar and look forward to reaching a solution that works for all parties.”
“We have residents in Littleton that use those streets, and I know residents of Bow Mar use Littleton streets,” Schlachter said.
It is not the first time Bow Mar has tried to discourage outsiders from driving through. In 2021, the town put up a sign claiming a street does not cut through to Sheridan Boulevard — when it clearly does. Schlachter acknowledged that the two situations are different. “It’s not quite the same as actually restricting access,” he said.
Not everyone in Bow Mar appears to support the gate plan. Someone posted a sign near one of the entry points with a QR code urging people to keep the access points open. But the QR portion of the sign had been spray-painted over, rendering it unscannable.
9NEWS legal analyst Scott Robinson said the plan raises serious legal questions. State statute gives cities and towns 36 different powers over traffic, Robinson said, but “complete closure, except the local residents and those they want to invite, not in the statute.”
When asked why residents of Littleton or Denver should not be able to drive a public road through Bow Mar, Schlachter said, “That is the question I asked them as well.”
Bow Mar receives state road funding that includes vehicle registration fees and money from gas taxes. Since last summer, that has totaled $27,000.
9NEWS reached out to Bow Mar Mayor Bryan Sperry and all of the town’s trustees. A clerk called back and said the town could not provide a comment in time for the deadline.
