WalkDenver

Yesterday the City Council finally dug into the question of how to complete Denver’s patchwork sidewalk network. Sidewalk construction and maintenance currently falls entirely on individual property owners. It’s a policy designed to fail, with many people unable to afford sidewalks, and the quality of the pedestrian environment suffering as a result. People pay with their lives. … Continued

Street art adds character to neighborhoods and can make an uninviting place to walk feel a little more inviting. Cue WalkDenver’s “Art on the Ave” contest. The pedestrian advocates asked 14 artists to treat utility boxes on East Colfax as canvasses this month, and they did, turning drab but necessary sidewalk clutter into colorful works … Continued

While the Denver City Council deliberates over how to expand the sidewalk network citywide and city officials embark on a two-year process to create a pedestrian plan, advocates have been pounding the pavement to show exactly what needs to change. WalkDenver and the Community Active Living Coalition recently crowdsourced a ton of new data for WALKscope, the app that lets … Continued

If you had a broken arm, you would probably see an orthopedist, because that’s what orthopedists do for a living. They are experts at healing bones. If you’re running a city and have a broken pedestrian network, you would think that the city’s foremost independent expert on local pedestrian issues would have a seat at the … Continued

How far has the Colorado Department of Transportation come since its days as the Colorado Department of Highways? Not very far, judging by Denver’s high-speed, state-owned streets like Colfax and Federal. While Colorado DOT Director Shailen Bhatt talks a good game, the agency he runs has shown almost no inclination to create walkable, bikeable, transit-oriented streets … Continued

Last year, 57 people were killed in traffic on Denver’s streets, and hundreds more suffered life-altering injuries. What is Mayor Michael Hancock’s plan to reduce the death toll? Four months ago, Hancock declared his intention to bring traffic deaths in Denver down to zero, but his Vision Zero plan is still in development and specifics remain in short supply. One thing that’s certain, … Continued

Denver is in dire need of sidewalks and crosswalks that make walking safe and easy instead of daunting and dangerous. Advocates are pressing the City Council to deliver on a complete sidewalk network, and council members are listening. One of the barriers to better walking infrastructure is the lack of data. There’s no complete inventory mapping the state … Continued

The Denver City Council is inching closer to a long-term fix for the city’s antiquated sidewalk policies, which have led to shoddy walking infrastructure and major gaps in the sidewalk network. City Councilman Paul Kashmann, who heads the Sidewalk Working Group, is looking to establish a sidewalk fund. The question is where the money will come from. Elected officials questioned planners from … Continued

After three rounds of testimony from people demanding decent sidewalks, the City Council’s Sidewalk Working Group will try to fix the dysfunctional policies that have contributed to Denver’s Swiss cheese network of crumbling sidewalks. At least one in four of all trips in Denver are less than one mile, according to the Denver Regional Council of Governments — those are trips that people can walk … Continued