DPW
Can Tim O’Brien Fill Dennis Gallagher’s Very Large Shoes?
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 … Continued
August 4, 2015
Two-Day Broadway Bike Lane Is Pre-Cursor to Longer Demo
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 … Continued
August 3, 2015
Retrofit Could Make Intersection of 16th and Broadway Less Chaotic
The intersection of 16th and Broadway: A cluster of cars, huge buses making left turns, mall shuttles every 90 seconds, and awkward diagonal crossings for pedestrians and people on bikes trying to connect to the 16th Street Mall and 15th Street bike lane. It’s intimidating, but may soon become less so. The Denver Business Journal reports that the … Continued
July 23, 2015
Gallagher: Under Hancock, Denver’s Bike Network a Priority in Name Only
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 … Continued
July 16, 2015
Meet the Crowdsourcing App That Promises to Improve Denver’s Sidewalks
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 … Continued
July 14, 2015
Denver Needs More Street Demos Like the One Planned for West Colfax
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, … Continued
July 8, 2015
What Denver’s Transportation Engineers Can Learn From Seattle
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 … Continued
July 6, 2015
BikeDenver Releases Map Showing Bike Lanes to Nowhere
People who depend on Denver’s bike network to get around are tossed from calm bike lanes into chaotic streets too often because of sporadic, fragmented infrastructure. It’s a familiar feeling for riders, but seeing the gaping voids mapped above is striking, even cringeworthy. BikeDenver released the map yesterday, inspired by a Washington Post article that mapped the disconnects in … Continued
June 26, 2015
Here Are Some Better Ideas For Quebec Street Than DPW’s Widening Plan
The Department of Public Works wants to widen several blocks of Quebec Street between 13th and 26th. DPW says adding more lanes is the answer because it will move more cars. But if we want to have safe streets for people to walk and bike, DPW’s four-lane design for Quebec is not the way to go. According to … Continued
June 17, 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