Federal Boulevard

Federal Boulevard is the type of street Denver should have started redesigning yesterday in order to reach Mayor Michael Hancock's stated goal of eliminating traffic deaths. But even as nearby neighborhoods prepare to absorb more residents, the city is still prioritizing car traffic at their expense.

Back in May, Denver Public Works set out to redesign Federal Boulevard. Last week the agency came out with a draft plan for Federal, and anyone hoping for a 21st century design that truly prioritizes transit and safe walking and biking will be disappointed. Federal needs serious help. It’s one of the most dangerous streets in … Continued

Federal Boulevard is one of the deadliest streets in the city, especially if you’re walking. But it could be so much better. Federal is already full of foot traffic, it carries more transit passengers than all but one other street in the city, and it could serve as an incredibly direct and useful bike route. If only … Continued

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

Colorado Department of Transportation Executive Director Shailen Bhatt has said all the right things since taking over early this year. He talks about his job like he’s looking out for everyone who uses our streets — not just cars and drivers — giving us reason to believe that the titanic government agency will change course and … Continued

Governor John Hickenlooper’s announcement that Colorado will invest more than $100 million over four years in bike and pedestrian infrastructure was bold, and not just because that money can go a long way. Along with committing 2.5 percent of the Colorado Department of Transportation’s budget to bike and pedestrian projects, Hickenlooper appears intent on strategically reorienting the agency toward a … Continued

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JT6wrUMTug Well that was short-lived. After less than two weeks, the Colorado Department of Transportation is dropping a social media campaign championed by Hank, the sleazy infomercial character created to scold people for walking. As Streetsblog Denver reported a couple weeks ago, the campaign was a tone-deaf repackaging of discredited ideas that blame people for their own deaths. There … Continued

As Streetsblog Denver reported last week, Colorado DOT and the Department of Public Works are adding space for car traffic on Federal Boulevard in the name of safer walking and biking. The premise that widening a street will improve safety goes against a mountain of evidence and experience. And in fact, if you dig a little deeper into … Continued

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, … Continued