David Sachs
David cut his teeth covering transportation, development, politics, education, and art in D.C. He's covered sustainable transportation for Streetsblog since 2015 and has lived in Denver's Cheesman Park neighborhood since 2012.
Recent Posts
Walkable Development Near Transit to Have More Room for Cars Than Beds
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Greystar, a developer out of Charleston, South Carolina, wants to build a 14-story apartment tower across the street from Denver’s most important transit hub. With a name like Ascent at Union Station, you’d think its builders would reach for high standards, but you’d be wrong. That’s because the developers have baked almost two parking spaces per unit […]
Downtown Commuter Survey Reveals the Weakness of Denver Transit
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The Downtown Denver Partnership last week released the results of its commuter survey, an annual exploration of how people get to and from their workplaces downtown. DDP polled 5,740 commuters, which is almost 5 percent of all downtown workers. A plurality of people polled, about 41 percent, said they commute via transit. That’s less than the 44 percent […]
WalkDenver Tells CDOT, DPW, Residents Where West Colfax Must Change
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This summer WalkDenver and the West Colfax Business Improvement District proved that residents need — and deserve — a people-friendly West Colfax Avenue. Advocates transformed the street for one day with temporary materials to illustrate the possibilities. For that day, at least part of West Colfax prioritized people as much as it did cars, creating a safer […]
DPW Moves Ahead With Plan to Turn Broadway Into a Surface Highway
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Denver Public Works is moving ahead with plans to turn streets near the I-25 and Broadway RTD station into wide open speedways, despite the city’s intent to transform the area into a walkable neighborhood. At some locations, DPW will create streets more than 100 feet wide. Construction on the street widenings is slated to start next year, officials said Wednesday, […]
Arapahoe Street Bike Lane Ranks Seventh Among 2015 Bike Lanes
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The national bike advocacy group People for Bikes is pretty much the Zagat of bike infrastructure, and they’ve rated Denver’s Arapahoe Street bike lane the seventh-best bike lane installed in the country this year. Here’s more from the Boulder-based organization: If only these plastic posts could talk. This one-mile project was languishing as a line on a […]
Does the Plan for I-25 and Broadway Do Enough for Biking and Walking?
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“The ‘Midtown’ of Denver.” That’s how a 95-page blueprint from various city agencies envisions the area around RTD’s I-25 and Broadway Station. The plan makes some exciting promises: Walkable, bikeable, transit-friendly streets and bridges would reconnect neighborhoods divided by I-25, the South Platte River, train tracks, and wide, fast roads. And planners want to create a new mixed-use neighborhood with housing, plazas, offices, retail […]
Today’s Headlines
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City Plans More Walkable Neighborhood at Busy I-25 and Broadway Station (Fox31) RTD Tries to Balance Number of Boulder Bus Stops With Rapid Service (Daily Camera) Light Rail Riders Less Frustrated Than Drivers During Snow Storm (DenPo) But Snow Plow Ruined Commute for Some Transit Users (DenPo) Ski Train to Winter Park Unlikely to Happen This Season (CPR) Will Uber Add Wheelchair […]
With New Transit Chief Dave Genova, What’s Next at RTD?
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The RTD Board of Directors offered Interim General Manager and CEO Dave Genova the permanent post late last week after the career RTD employee beat out two outsiders for the job. Phil Washington left the agency to run LA Metro in Los Angeles, and his legacy centers around FasTracks, the massive, voter-approved expansion of the region’s rail […]
CU Denver Urban Planning Students Fill in Blanks on Denver’s Walkability
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University of Colorado professor Ken Schroeppel is teaching his graduate students how to become urban planners. That means teaching them the tenets of walkability — how to identify gaps in the city’s walking network and how to reorient streets to prioritize pedestrians. So Schroeppel, who runs DenverUrbanism on the side, gave his students a pretty cool assignment that could […]
This Week: Help Make Neighborhoods Around Transit Walkable
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Before the holidays descend on us, there are plenty of important public meetings this week, including a gathering in northeast Denver to talk about how to improve walking and biking in the area around the 40th and Colorado RTD station. One option? The 303 ArtWay, a cultural trail for people walking and biking that would connect […]
Denver Public Works Waters Down the Arapahoe Street Bike Lane
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Earlier this month Mayor Michael Hancock cut the ribbon on the Arapahoe Street protected bike lane and promised three more next year. What Hancock didn’t mention was that his Department of Public Works is already handing out special privileges to allow some people to park in the bike lane. He didn’t mention that one section […]
Here’s How the RTD CEO Candidates Said They’d Make Denver Transit Better
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RTD held what amounted to a public job interview Thursday for three finalists hoping to fill the general manager and CEO post vacated by Phil Washington earlier this year. Stephanie Dawson, Richard Leary, and Dave Genova each had 20 minutes to answer questions about their experience and why they’d fit at RTD. Afterward they spent […]