Enjoy our campus … ride a bicycle to CSU
A bicycle is a very practical and enjoyable way to access Colorado State University–one of the few Platinum Bicycle Friendly Universities in the country. For your next visit, download the city’s bike map and consider riding a bicycle (check out a Fort Collins Bike Share Bicycle bike) as the following shared-use trails and low-stress routes make crossing into campus a breeze:
- Mason Trail: The Mason Trail parallels MAX, the city’s rapid bus that travels on a dedicated guideway through Fort Collins. South of campus, the trail is a share-use trail. North of campus, you can follow a sharrow, which is a graphic indicating the bike trail painted into the street, and transition to the 13-foot-wide trail on campus.
- Loomis Avenue: Loomis provides access to the north of campus along the Center Bikeway. Loomis connects with the Lory Trail at Meridian and Plum to provide access to the core of campus.
- Pitkin and Springfield: These sister streets provide east and west side access along the City’s Pitkin Bikeway. The streets transition from sharrows to bike lanes to a shared-use trail in the core of campus. The Aggie Trail, Mountain Loop, the Prairie Loop, the Mason Trail, and the Trial Gardens underpass can be accessed from this route through campus.
- Center Avenue: Center Avenue provides comfortable bike lanes to the southern perimeter of campus and a new underpass under Prospect Avenue.
- Elizabeth Avenue: – The new Shields Underpass provides quick navigation under Shields onto the campus Green Trail into the Pedestrian Mall.
How can I avoid bicycling through the thousands of students on my bike?
When you transition from off-campus to on-campus trails, you will find bicycling through to your destination a breeze while students are in class. A best practice would be to avoid commuting 15 minutes before each hour while students travel between classes or return to their residence hall. Trails closer to the campus core will be more congested because CSU has placed significant bike parking near these areas. Learn more about the campus layout.
Where can I park my bike?
CSU has more than 18,000 bike parking spaces on campus with the largest concentrations near academic buildings and resident halls. If a rack is full near your destination on campus, take a look around the building; we have racks all over campus.
Check out main campus bicycle parking locations.
How does the dismount walk zone work?
The dismount and walk zone is the pedestrian core of campus where no vehicles, bicycles, e-scooters, or longboards can be used Monday – Friday from 7:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. With more than 30,000 students concentrated in the core of campus, we are striving to have a stress-free, relaxing environment and reduce the odds of an accident between commuters.
When bikers arrive at a dismount zone, they must walk their bike. Dismount zones are short sections of campus, and usually mean walking your bicycle for 1-2 minutes along your commute. Dismount zones are enforced; riding through a dismount walkone could yield a ticket or infraction.