Thursday’s Headlines 02/18/2021 and the State of the State is Car-Centric

Denver, RTD, and the Metro Area

• RTD Wants More Housing Near Stations. It May Sacrifice Unused Parking Spots To Make That Happen (CPR)
• RTD Schedules Meetings On A, B, G & N Lines Quiet Zones (CBS4)
• Greyhound drops demolition eligibility request for Five Points building (BusinessDen)
• Denver Air Quality Index: 8 a.m.: 53 (Moderate). Yesterday’s max: 100 (Moderate).

Centennial State and Beyond

• Polis delivered the annual state of the state address, and here are the four times he talked about transportation. No mention of RTD. (Full speech text and video are on Colorado.gov)
  • My budget request moves forward vital projects, starting with much-needed repairs on roads across Colorado — from the Eisenhower Tunnel to the rural roads that our farmers and ranchers rely on. We’re going to make it easier for Coloradans and visitors to travel our great state — accessing the ski resorts and public lands that we love — while reducing traffic and improving our vibrant, beloved main streets in the process.
  • Looking ahead, we see transportation changing before our very eyes: more deliveries, car shares and ride shares. I look forward to working with you to accelerate electrification, expand multimodal transit options, save commuters money on gas, reduce emissions, and improve air quality.
  • As our transportation habits change, so should the way we support our transportation system. We should reduce vehicle registration fees to save people money and support the recovery, while modernizing the way we fund our transportation system. [Lengthy applause with hoots from audience, per Westword] I want to thank Senator Fenberg, Senator Winter, Speaker Garnett, and Representative Gray for their leadership on this important and challenging issue and their work to bring together the business community, local governments, and environmental advocates around the important need to reduce traffic.
  • By offering all Colorado vehicle owners the opportunity to purchase a park and public lands pass when they register their vehicle, we can expand affordable access to our great outdoors and ensure our state parks have a sustainable source of revenue to improve trails, expand camping, increase parking, and open new state parks. This kind of innovation embodies the Colorado way of solving problems, and I thank Majority Leader Fenberg for his partnership on this important initiative.
  • Polis called for a reduction to vehicle registration fees, which contribute more than $100 million a year toward roads and bridges (CPR)
  • The Colorado Sun annotated the governor’s speech (Colorado Sun)
  • 8 numbers that sum up Colorado’s State of the State, including some nuance on transportation funding (DenverPost)
• Advice from the Rocky Mountain Institute and Transportation for America: To Meet Climate Goals, Think Outside the Electric Car (CityLab)
• Summit County officials push for more public transit funding from state legislators (Summit Daily)
• The snow goes on, and so does Bustang (Telluride Daily Planet)

From Streetsblog

• Thursday’s Headlines as the Cold Continues (Streetsblog USA)
• Talking Headways Podcast: A Second Bay Crossing (And One Big ‘Ugh’). Guest: Sadie Graham, BART Program Director for Link21, a rail network planning program for the San Francisco Bay Area. (Streetsblog USA)

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