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
Tonight: Tell CDOT That I-70 Doesn’t Need More Lanes
| | 1 Comment
City Councilor Deborah Ortega grilled the Colorado Department of Transportation last month over its agreement with Denver Public Works that trades flood protection for $83 million in funding for a massive I-70 expansion. “Yes, the drainage has been part of the conversations, but not the details of how all of this was going to be financed and what kind of long-term […]
West Colfax Demo Proves Neighborhood Needs, Deserves Complete Street
| | 1 Comment
West Colfax Avenue suffers from an identity crisis. It was designed to move motor vehicles in and out of the city as fast as possible, but it’s also a neighborhood street where bus riders, families, and shoppers abound. The result is a thoroughfare that caters to motorists, but not to the people who actually live, work, and walk there. […]
Widening Federal Boulevard for Cars Makes No Sense, But BRT Does
| | 3 Comments
Crashes on Federal Boulevard between Seventh Avenue and Howard Place are higher than the statewide average. So how have the Colorado Department of Transportation and Denver Public Works responded? By adding a sixth travel lane for drivers and widening the current ones — two actions known to increase speeds and congestion. When it’s completed in 2018, […]
Would a Different Street Design Have Prevented Timothy Erickson’s Death?
| | No Comments
Some new information sheds a little more light on the crash that killed a Denver man riding his bike on Colorado Boulevard near Colfax Avenue on July 14. The victim’s name was Timothy Erickson and he would be 56 on Monday. Erickson was riding south on the wrong side of Colorado, near the sidewalk, as a driver pulled out of […]
Public Bike Infrastructure Shouldn’t Have to Rely on Private Money
| | No Comments
Bloomberg published a national story yesterday about crowdfunding public infrastructure projects to ensure government bureaucracies actually implement them. The tactic is becoming more common, Amanda Albright reports, “at a time of waning city budgets and interest in funding projects.” Headlines in Denver lately boast of the booming local economy and the flood of development (read: bigger tax base). Mayor Michael […]
Be a Part of West Colfax’s Transformation Into a Complete Street
| | No Comments
For six hours this Sunday, part of West Colfax Avenue will be transformed from a four-lane, car-heavy thoroughfare into a three-lane complete street for people. It’ll be a temporary road diet (built with temporary materials) that demonstrates how simple street design can have an outsize effect on a neighborhood’s safety and sense of place. Streetsblog Denver covered the demonstration, […]
East Colfax BID Takes Initiative on Designing a Better Street
| | No Comments
As demand for complete streets outpaces funding and political will from city agencies, residents are taking street design into their own hands. The relatively young Colfax Mayfair Business Improvement District is Denver’s latest example. Colfax Avenue has long functioned primarily as a thoroughfare for motorists, to the detriment of business owners and people walking and biking. Basic infrastructure like […]
Coming Soon: Parking-Protected Bike Lanes on Arapahoe, Lawrence Streets
| | 3 Comments
Denver Public Works has been criticized for picking low-hanging fruit when it comes to designing bike infrastructure, but it’s safe to say the parking-protected bike lanes coming to Lawrence and Arapahoe streets are a bit higher up in the tree. Even better, they’ll probably be fully built by the end of October. Reps from DPW’s bike projects department […]
RTD Hopes to Raise Funds By Selling Naming Rights to Stations and Lines
| | 5 Comments
Casa Bonita Station? The Colorado Rapids Line? These names are completely speculative, but maybe not far from reality if RTD gets its way. The transit agency is trying to lure corporate sponsors to buy naming rights as it prepares to open four new rail lines next year. Each sponsorship could haul in as much as $1 million a […]
Denver Police and DPW Pass the Buck on Bike Lane Enforcement
| | 5 Comments
It’s clearly against the law for motor vehicle drivers to obstruct a bike lane in Denver, but no city agency is making enforcement a priority. Cars and trucks parked in bike lanes are a consistent problem, so Streetsblog Denver wanted to find out how many tickets have been written for obstructing bicyclists’ right to the lane. Multiple ordinances in Denver’s municipal […]
Can Tim O’Brien Fill Dennis Gallagher’s Very Large Shoes?
| | No Comments
It appears that the office tasked with watchdogging Denver’s strong-mayor form of government is done holding the city’s feet to the fire over its agreement with the Colorado Department of Transportation that commits $83 million to widening I-70 in exchange for badly needed flood protection. Former Denver Auditor Dennis Gallagher understood that making essential infrastructure upgrades contingent on a highway […]
Two-Day Broadway Bike Lane Is Pre-Cursor to Longer Demo
| | 5 Comments
We received a lot of feedback after last week’s news that the Department of Public Works will test out a protected, two-way bike lane on South Broadway with a “pop-up” bike lane during the last weekend of September. The pop-up design will run two blocks, from 1st Avenue to Bayaud Street, and will likely feature basic safeguards like cones and signage. Some […]