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
Gallagher: Under Hancock, Denver’s Bike Network a Priority in Name Only
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If Mayor Michael Hancock and his Department of Public Works don’t set aside funding for Denver’s plan to build a comprehensive bike network, it might as well not exist. That’s the message Denver City Auditor Dennis Gallagher sent to DPW Manager Jose Cornejo in a scathing report released today [PDF]. City leaders often boast about Denver Moves, the 2011 framework […]
Eyes on the Street: The 15th Street Postal Delivery Lane
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On the way to Streetsblog Denver’s office in LoDo yesterday morning, a driver with the United States Postal Service was clogging up the 15th Street protected bike lane with his van. He plopped himself right behind a “No Parking Any Time” sign. As you can see from the picture above, he left no room for me or other people on […]
When Streets Aren’t Designed for Safe Biking, People on Bikes Get Hurt
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The man killed on his bike yesterday evening near the intersection of Colorado Boulevard and Colfax Avenue was riding on the wrong side of the street when a driver hit him, according to early reports from the Denver Police Department. “The preliminary investigation indicates that it appears the biker was riding southbound on a northbound lane on Colorado,” […]
Meet the Crowdsourcing App That Promises to Improve Denver’s Sidewalks
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The City and County of Denver doesn’t have a dedicated funding stream for building and maintaining sidewalks, but WalkScope, a crowdsourcing tool that maps and rates Denver’s walking infrastructure, could be the springboard the city needs to change that. WalkScope allows anyone with access to a smart phone or computer to map the quality of […]
How Highway Expansionists Forced Through Funding for I-70
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Thanks to last week’s City Council decision, Denver will pay the Colorado Department of Transportation $83 million to expand I-70 from six lanes to 10, using obsolete data to justify it. But there’s a lot more to unpack. CDOT will also contribute to a much-needed drainage project as part of the deal. By knotting flood mitigation with […]
Mayor Hancock on Vision Zero: “It’s Not If, But When”
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Mayor Michael Hancock told members of the Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Committee yesterday that it’s just a matter of time before the city adopts a Vision Zero strategy to eliminate traffic deaths. But the mayor said the city needs to be better prepared before taking on the goal of zero deaths on Denver’s streets. Here’s how Mayor Hancock responded when Streetsblog Denver asked […]
How Not to Treat Street Design Near Transit Stations
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The Denver Post published a story today by Megan Mitchell that depicts an uprising of sorts against smart street design near the Iliff Avenue Rail Station, which will open next year. Some residents, including Albert Melcher, president of the local neighborhood association, want to nix a planned bike lane and widen a nearby street to handle traffic from the […]
Denver Needs More Street Demos Like the One Planned for West Colfax
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Complete streets advocates are taking ownership of West Colfax by transforming part of it from a four-way car-centric raceway into a haven for pedestrians and people on bikes. It’ll be just a one-day demonstration — organizers describe it as a “lab” — but the idea is to spark a permanent redesign on the street by showing residents, city planners, […]
Tonight: Help Make West Colfax a Complete Street
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It’s been about a month since advocates, businesses, government planners, and consultants began brainstorming how to improve West Colfax Avenue with a one-day demo that will include temporary infrastructure. The idea is to spark a more permanent commitment to a complete street. Since then, reps from Reimagine West Colfax have decided that the demo will take place between […]
CDOT Will Knowingly Use Obsolete Projections to Rationalize I-70 Widening
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Last month, Streetsblog wrote about the absurd traffic projections that the Colorado Department of Transportation is using to justify expanding I-70 from six lanes to 10 through northeast Denver. Last night, I-70 project director Tony DeVito admitted that CDOT will knowingly use old traffic modeling to make a case for the $1.2 billion project, even though there’s newer data available. DeVito spoke […]
What Denver’s Transportation Engineers Can Learn From Seattle
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Seattle is, in many ways, Denver’s most comparable peer city. Like the Mile High City, Seattle was built to move cars, but as it grows, the city is looking to retrofit its streets to move people via transit, biking, and walking. There’s a stark difference between the two cities’ approach, though. Seattle is backing up its talk with swift action made […]
Public Works Needs to Design Brighton Boulevard With the Future in Mind
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In an open letter posted on WalkDenver’s website yesterday, Joel Noble challenged the Department of Public Works and their consultants to be bold while redesigning Brighton Boulevard for walking, biking, and transit. Noble wrote as a resident, but he is also a Planning Board member, the president of Curtis Park Neighbors, and co-chair of the INC Transportation Committee. (Full disclosure: he has […]