Michael Hancock

Colorado Department of Transportation Director Shailen Bhatt on Wednesday announced a $20 million initiative to outfit the state’s roads with cutting edge technology. His goal: Eliminate roadway deaths and congestion by asking tech ventures to step in and help solve problems. The initiative, dubbed “RoadX,” will contract out the development of high-tech solutions to road troubles. Semi-autonomous vehicles, for … Continued

Mayor Michael Hancock’s 2016 budget is a step in the right direction when it comes to streets and transportation. But it still falls far short of putting Denver on track to become a city where people can safely and conveniently get around without driving. It’s up to City Council members to influence and improve Hancock’s spending plan, and tonight you can weigh … Continued

Denver has studied bus rapid transit (BRT) on East Colfax Avenue for a long time, and now it looks like the city is ready to take concrete steps to make it happen. Mayor Michael Hancock’s budget sets aside $1.2 million to design the BRT route, which would connect downtown Denver with Aurora over a nine-mile span. … Continued

On Friday, Denver Public Works and BikeDenver showed the city how converting one motor vehicle lane to a protected bike lane on Broadway could improve safety for everyone who uses the street. The temporary, three-day demo was the beginning of a larger bid to give people on bikes a safe north-south route through the city, and make Broadway less of a … Continued

Denver Public Works Transportation Director Crissy Fanganello told the City Council Tuesday that her agency will create a Vision Zero plan — a roadmap to eliminate traffic deaths — as long as the council approves the allocations in Mayor Michael Hancock’s 2016 budget. The news came during a presentation on DPW’s budget, which includes $350,000 to create the plan … Continued

Denver’s Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation, a group that represents about 100 neighborhoods throughout the city, just adopted a transportation platform [PDF] that petitions, among other things, for Vision Zero. The platform should send a message to Mayor Michael Hancock’s office: The city must acknowledge that traffic deaths and serious injuries are unacceptable and develop a Vision Zero strategy to prevent them. Here’s some pretty strong … Continued

Today Mayor Michael Hancock proposed his 2016 budget, giving a glimpse of what the city will prioritize next year. The document [PDF] places more importance on creating people-oriented streets than it has in previous years, but the investments don’t indicate a paradigm shift to a 21st-century transportation mindset. That idea is best illustrated in Hancock’s note to the public (the … Continued

Mayor Michael Hancock has been quick to tout Denver’s status as a post-recession boom town, but not so quick to use the city’s bulging purse to fund transit and active transportation. That should change, if elected officials follow through on their recently announced budget priorities. According to the City Council’s budget priorities, “transit infrastructure and safety” top the list. The City … Continued

The Denver medical examiner has completed an autopsy of Timothy Erickson, who was struck and killed last month while biking on Colorado Boulevard. The autopsy confirmed that Erickson was not impaired by drugs or alcohol when he was struck. Since Erickson was hit while biking against traffic, in violation of the law, the common knee-jerk reaction has been to … Continued