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
Here’s What’s Missing From Hancock’s Budget for Transit and Safe Streets
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Mayor Michael Hancock’s 2016 budget is a step in the right direction when it comes to streets and transportation. But it still falls far short of putting Denver on track to become a city where people can safely and conveniently get around without driving. It’s up to City Council members to influence and improve Hancock’s spending plan, and tonight you can weigh […]
Bureaucracy Got You Down? Here’s a Guide to Making Colorado Streets Better
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Engineer-speak has the power to convolute simple concepts and disengage the very people public agencies are meant to serve. If you’re not in the transportation industry, it might be confusing why agencies use “fixing deficiencies in the grade” when they mean “priming the street for faster speeds,” for instance. But imagine if public agencies listened to the people who value […]
Survey: Broadway Protected Bike Lane Would Entice More Riders, Shoppers
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People have dreamt up plenty of excuses for not putting a protected bike lane on Broadway, but survey results from “Bikes on Broadway,” last month’s temporary demo, remind us why it needs to happen. The survey, designed by Transportation Solutions, BikeDenver, and the Department of Public Works, polled 114 people walking or biking on South Broadway during […]
Tonight: Get on Track With the Future of Transit in Denver
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The massive FasTracks rail and bus system is nearly built, with four new rail lines and a bus rapid transit route connecting Denver to Boulder opening next year. FasTracks will connect the city’s suburbs with downtown and Denver International Airport, but what about transit routes that help people travel within the city itself? As Denver’s population grows, its decision makers […]
No, Bike Lane Construction Hasn’t “Snarled” Traffic on Arapahoe
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Public Works crews are installing much-needed parking-protected bike lanes on Arapahoe and Lawrence streets, and it hasn’t taken long for some news outlets to frame the safety measures as an undue burden for drivers. On Monday the Denver Post reported that construction would “snarl” traffic. Today Fox31 used the same verb to describe how changing the street might annoy […]
Connor Walsh May Be Walking Today If His Route to School Had a Sidewalk
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Connor Walsh was walking to his Fort Collins high school on the morning of March 10 when Reginald Loewen, falling asleep at the wheel of his Subaru after working an overnight shift, struck the 16-year-old and broke his back. Walsh had been walking on the shoulder of Laporte Avenue, a street a few blocks away from his […]
If You Think Congestion Is a Problem, You Should Welcome US 36 Toll Lanes
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The Colorado Department of Transportation finalized rates for express lanes on US 36 and I-70 this week, and people are freaking out. The express lanes create an incentive for people to travel by more efficient means: Buses and carpools can use them for free, and to ensure that the lanes keep flowing smoothly, anyone else […]
RTD Needs to Raise Its Game on Transit-Oriented Development
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If you build good transit, it will serve a lot more people if you also build walkable places around the stations. Without that development, your transit system won’t ever reach its potential. When it comes to making effective use of the land by its stations, RTD has some catching up to do, according to initial results from an […]
Eyes on the Street: Denver’s First Parking-Protected Bike Lanes Begin
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The Department of Public Works began installing a pretty monumental piece of the city’s bike network yesterday — parking-protected bike lanes on Arapahoe and Lawrence streets. When complete in mid-November, the bike lanes will provide a downtown route for about a mile between Auraria Campus and 24th Street, with intersection treatments that will make it safer to […]
Sign WalkDenver’s Petition to Give Denver Sidewalks Citywide
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As Denver spends millions to widen streets and highways for multi-ton vehicles, many people are still deprived of sidewalks in their neighborhood. That’s because walking is considered an “alternative” way to get around in Denver. It’s an absurd (if common) way to frame the original, most basic form of transportation. This peculiar mentality is also the reason Denver has no […]
Denver Business Journal’s Westergaard: Bikeable Streets Are Hostile to Cars
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Denver Business Journal editor Neil Westergaard has gone all in on his war against people on bikes — traffic congestion and local businesses be damned. Today Westergaard published his latest rant, which calls the city’s plan to make biking safer “vehicle-hostile” and paints people who want a convenient way from A to B as “fanatics” who think they’re “morally […]
Tonight: Help Create a Neighborhood Strategy for Better Walking and Biking
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For Denver’s low-income residents, walking, biking, and transit are not “alternative transportation” choices — they are the only choices. The lower the neighborhood’s income, the higher the need for walkability and bikeability, yet the worse it is to walk or bike. Enter the Community Active Living Coalition, led by Denver Health, the Department of Environmental Health, and WalkDenver. They’ve […]