CDOT
Engineers Blew Off Safety Concerns to Widen Federal. Will They Do It Again?
Engineers know that wide city streets with wide lanes are dangerous — those are the streets where people get killed by speeding drivers. But when people confronted Denver’s transportation agencies about the widening of Federal Boulevard, Colorado DOT and Denver Public Works blew off their safety concerns. Making the street safer for walking, they said, would ruin the whole … Continued
February 5, 2016
Tell CDOT Why Widening I-70 in North Denver Is a Bad Idea
The fight over Colorado DOT’s billion-dollar-plus plan to widen I-70 is coming to a head. Many residents, especially of north Denver where the highway has spliced neighborhoods for years, have spoken against this project since around the turn of the century. They’ll bear the brunt of the additional noise and pollution, but widening the highway … Continued
February 1, 2016
Denver Can Have Great Neighborhood Streets If CDOT Tears Down I-70
Unite North Metro Denver has an idea about what to do with I-70. Instead of widening the highway and pumping more traffic into the city like Colorado DOT wants, tear it down and replace it with an urban boulevard, reconnecting the urban fabric of Globeville, Elyria, and Swansea. CDOT is pushing its billion-dollar-plus plan to reconstruct and … Continued
January 29, 2016
Denver Post on the Spike in Colorado Traffic Deaths: Ho-Hum
A Denver Post editorial published Friday evening opposing stricter seat belt laws provides a troubling glimpse into how Denver’s paper of record views traffic deaths. Last year the number of people who lost their lives hit an eight-year high of 545, the fourth year in a row that traffic fatalities increased. Here’s the complacent response from the paper: The spike last year … Continued
January 25, 2016
As Traffic Deaths Spike, Colorado DOT Says Zilch About Fixing Deadly Streets
In the inaugural year of Colorado DOT’s timid Toward Zero Deaths initiative, 545 people were killed on roads throughout the state. That’s a stark spike in fatalities — 57 more, or 10 percent, than in 2014, and the most since 2008. The number of people killed while walking or biking rose from 74 to 78. More than a quarter … Continued
January 22, 2016
Count the Holes in Colorado DOT’s Justification for the I-70 Widening
A lot of people don’t like Colorado DOT’s plan to widen I-70 in north Denver — and for good reason. Expanding I-70 will generate more traffic, noise pollution, and greenhouse gases while costing a bundle of money that could be spent on other things, like, say, better transit. Opponents of the road widening told CDOT why they … Continued
January 20, 2016
It’s Official: Widening I-70 Among America’s Most Wasteful Highway Boondoggles
In front of the rumbling I-70 underpass at the corner of 46th and Columbine, a stone’s throw from kids playing tag during Swansea Elementary School’s recess, CoPIRG Director Danny Katz told reporters Tuesday that taxpayers could save at least $58 million if Colorado DOT nixed its plan to widen the interstate by four lanes. Katz was answering questions about a … Continued
January 19, 2016
Get Ready for More Traffic as CDOT Plows Ahead With I-70 Expansion
There are plenty of reasons why the scheme to widen I-70 in north Denver is subject to so much scrutiny: It’s going to cause more traffic, relocate 74 homes and businesses, pollute some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods, and cost between $1 billion and $2 billion to build. Oh, and Colorado DOT used questionable traffic projections … Continued
January 13, 2016
In Memoriam: The People Who Died Walking and Biking in Denver Last Year
End-of-year lists are an inescapable part of the calendar flipping from December to January. Some of those serve to entertain, but this list serves to remind Mayor Michael Hancock, his Department of Public Works, and CDOT Executive Director Shailen Bhatt that 19 20 people were killed while walking and biking through the city in 2015. Half … Continued
January 4, 2016
Here Are Your Winners of the First Annual Denver Streetsie Awards
It’s been a notable year for walking, biking, and transit in the Mile High City. But what was the most notable? The best project? The worst? We put those questions and others to our readers, and the votes are in. Here are your winners of the first-ever Denver Streetsies. Best Livable Streets Victory Money talks — and gets votes. Governor John Hickenlooper’s $100 … Continued
December 30, 2015