congestion
Denver Can Grow Without Getting Overrun By Traffic, If We Act Now
Westword commentator Bree Davies sometimes writes fierce, nostalgic critiques of how Denver is growing, and what it means when your hometown’s identity is changing from an intimate, small city to a fast-developing one attracting young professionals from across the country. Sometimes she loathes change, like the squeezes Denver’s growing population puts on city streets. But after a trip to Los Angeles, … Continued
October 2, 2015
DPW Insists on Making Quebec Street Wider and More Dangerous
The Department of Public Works is pushing for yet another street widening that will lead to more traffic injuries. This one is on Quebec Street between 13th and 26th avenues in Stapleton. The reason? To save drivers a few minutes during rush hour. With the exception of a few blocks, this section of Quebec Street is currently … Continued
June 16, 2015
Wes Marshall on How to Make Denver a Walkable City With Safe Streets
When Steve Jobs built the iPod, he had his team design its remarkable look and intuitive function before asking them to cram the technology inside. That’s how CU Denver professor Wes Marshall thinks about Denver’s transition to becoming a 21st century transportation city — think big and then figure out the small stuff. Marshall is an engineer who thinks like … Continued
May 19, 2015
Denver Business Journal: Bike Lanes Are a Conspiracy Against Drivers
Denver Business Journal Editor Neil Westergaard went old timey in a piece last Friday with the headline “Bikes are OK, but Denver plan goes too far.” The article was behind a pay wall for subscribers, but there are some excerpts below that give readers the gist. Westergaard frames the city’s efforts to improve conditions for bicycling as a … Continued
May 18, 2015
Mary Beth Susman Gets It: Denver Needs More Livable Streets
Before Mayor Michael Hancock and Denver City Council members made transit infrastructure a top budget priority for 2016, Council Member Mary Beth Susman was on a mission to bridge the gaps in the city’s Swiss cheese transit system. The 67-year-old made the case for better bus service in the Denver Post editorial pages last year, then got scolded … Continued
May 15, 2015
Widening Streets Near the Broadway and I-25 Transit Station Makes No Sense
At the same time that Denver seeks to become more walkable and transit-friendly, the city is pursuing road-widening projects that work directly against those goals. Sometimes the city even tries to do both things in the same place, and that’s what happening on South Broadway right now. In 2008, Denver adopted a Strategic Transportation Plan beginning with this … Continued
May 11, 2015
I-70 Widening Has Already Diverted $50M From Smarter Transpo Projects
Whether it’s the marginalization of Globeville, Elyria, and Swansea residents, the stark threat of respiratory illness, or the simple fact that widening roads does not solve traffic congestion, the I-70 expansion planned between Brighton Boulevard and Tower Road is a terrible idea. Still, the highway project with a $1.8 billion starting price tag has a … Continued
May 7, 2015