WalkDenver

It’s safe to say that Denver City Council members cannot plead ignorance on the city’s embarrassing walking infrastructure, following a meeting Wednesday where reps from Denver Public Works briefed lawmakers on the state of the city’s sidewalks. It was the first gathering of the Sidewalk Working Group, a committee led by Councilman Paul Kashmann and formed at the … Continued

Give it up for WalkScope, the crowdsourcing tool that allows anyone and everyone to map the quality of Denver’s streets. Planetizen, a popular website about urban design and planning, has rated WalkScope one of its top 10 websites of 2015. Here’s more from Planetizen: WALKscope is the rare example of crowd-sourced public engagement that actually works. WalkDenver and … Continued

During December’s snowstorm, Denver’s Public Works and Parks and Rec departments dispatched 96 snow plows that worked overnight to clear major roads of snow and ice. The response to the storm, which dropped as much as 10 inches on the Mile High City, was necessary to make streets safer for buses, cars, and bicyclists. Which makes the city’s … Continued

This summer WalkDenver and the West Colfax Business Improvement District proved that residents need — and deserve — a people-friendly West Colfax Avenue. Advocates transformed the street for one day with temporary materials to illustrate the possibilities. For that day, at least part of West Colfax prioritized people as much as it did cars, creating a safer … Continued

University of Colorado professor Ken Schroeppel is teaching his graduate students how to become urban planners. That means teaching them the tenets of walkability — how to identify gaps in the city’s walking network and how to reorient streets to prioritize pedestrians. So Schroeppel, who runs DenverUrbanism on the side, gave his students a pretty cool assignment that could … Continued

Vision Zero, the goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries, has gained popularity across the country in recent years. But that doesn’t mean cities automatically live up to its foundational principles of slowing vehicle speeds with better street design, enforcement, and education. To make sure Denver’s iteration of Vision Zero has teeth, a group of advocates … Continued

The vast majority of Denverites would rather not depend on a car, but walking, biking, and transit infrastructure leave them wanting. That’s according to a study [PDF] released Friday by the Urban Land Institute called “Colorado in 2015,” which also found that low-income and Latino Coloradans are the least satisfied with the safety of walking and biking in their … Continued

Data about the city’s walkability is crucial, because it drives decisions on where and how the Department of Public Works prioritizes improvements. The city of Denver doesn’t systematically measure the walkability of streets, but that’s beginning to change. Advocates and agencies have taken to the streets to record walking conditions with WalkScope, a crowdsourcing app that enables people to … Continued

The massive FasTracks rail and bus system is nearly built, with four new rail lines and a bus rapid transit route connecting Denver to Boulder opening next year. FasTracks will connect the city’s suburbs with downtown and Denver International Airport, but what about transit routes that help people travel within the city itself? As Denver’s population grows, its decision makers … Continued