Denver, RTD, and the Metro Area

• Public Comment Is Needed On 100-Year Vision For Civic Center Park (CBS4)
• City Council meetings this week: Mon 5:00 p.m. General Public Comment Session; Mon 5:30 p.m. City Council Meeting; Tue 9:30 a.m. Mayor-Council, Tue 10:30 a.m. Land Use Transportation Infrastructure Committee; Tue 1:30 p.m. Finance Governance Committee; Wed 10:30 a.m. Safety Housing Education Homelessness Committee (Committee canceled. Consent agenda included.); Wed 1:30 p.m. Business Arts Workforce Aviation Services Committee; Thu 9:30 a.m. Budget and Policy Committee (Agendas and links to watch)
• By the numbers (including RTD free mall ride numbers): Pandemic crushes downtown Denver crowds (Colorado Politics)
• RTD Celebrates Women’s History Month: Civil Rights Outreach Specialist Vivian Morales (RTD)
• RTD Board of Directors meetings this week: Thu 3 p.m. GM Oversight & Performance Management Committee (Agenda and links to watch)
• Boulder moving toward final segment of 28th Street project (Denver Post)
• Denver Air Quality Index: 8 a.m.: 47 (Good). Yesterday’s max: 45 (Good).

Centennial State

• Polis seeking major boost for Revitalizing Main Streets program, including $70 million to a pair of existing grant programs that makes it easier for people to move around without getting into cars (Denver Business Journal)
• Legislative leaders agree to put general-fund money into transportation-funding package (Denver Business Journal)
• Northeast Colorado receives nearly $33 million in federal stimulus funds for highway projects including Bustang station (Fox31)
• United Airlines introduces direct bus service from DEN to Breckenridge and Larimer County (Denver Post, Fox31, CBS4, Greeley Tribune)
• Front Range Rail Commission Sees Cautionary Tale In RTD’s FasTracks — And Opportunity (CPR)
• Pueblo City Council looks for additional funds for roundabout at treacherous intersection (Pueblo Chieftain)

From Streetsblog

• Monday’s Headlines that Will Make You Love Mondays! (Streetsblog USA)
• Why the New Mobility Revolution Leaves Seniors Behind (Streetsblog USA)
• Lime Makes Big Bet on Electric Bikeshare (Streetsblog USA)
• How to Build a Cheap Homemade Speed Camera (Streetsblog MASS)

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From Streetsblog

• Traffic Violence Report: 11 People Have Died in 2021, Compared to Five in 2020 (Streetsblog Denver)
• Friday’s Headlines with Secretary Pete on a Bicycle! (Streetsblog USA)

Traffic Violence and Safe Streets

Safe walking, biking, and transit means more than safety from drivers thanks to good infrastructure. It also means safety without racial profiling, harassment, and violence.

• Sen. Janet Buckner and Sen. Rhonda Fields: Elijah McClain’s death must become more than a cautionary tale Black mothers tell their children (Denver Post)
• Bias-motivated crimes against Asian[-American]s on the rise in Denver (Fox31)
• How Denver can recognize its once-thriving Chinatown (where white people attacked Chinese residents in 1880)? (Denverite)
• The Denver District Attorney filed vehicular homicide charges against driver Donovan Bartlett for killing Refugio Sanchez-Garcia and injuring two other people when running a read light on February 12 at W. Evans Avenue and S. Zuni Street (CBS4, 9News)

Denver, RTD, and the Metro Area

• Hancock advocates to Senate for greater local discretion in federal transportation dollars. Quotes via Colorado Politics:
  • “You have to offer just as many or more competitive options for them than driving alone,” the mayor said. “Our single occupancy [vehicle] rate in Denver was over 73% and that was just unsustainable.”
  • On Central I-70: [N]one of the alternative options for the Central 70 project were “feasible,” adding that “it was when the city of Denver got involved in this conversation about the I-70 project that we were able to bring to light the values of equity.”
  • On 16th Street Mall: “The project will not only revitalize our core economic engine, it will also create 1,843 jobs and have an overall economic impact of $4 billion of value add to the regional economy,” Hancock wrote. “I mention this project because it is an outstanding example of how Denver prioritizes hazard mitigation strategies and our infrastructure investments for equity.”
• CU Denver researchers investigate urban living questions, including transportation and transit equity (CU Denver News)
• Denver Air Quality Index: 8 a.m.: 68 (Moderate). Yesterday’s max: 61 (Moderate).

Centennial State

• Breckenridge To Hire Private Security For Mask Enforcement Over Spring Break (CBS4)

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Traffic Violence and Safe Streets

Safe walking, biking, and transit means more than safety from drivers. Walking while Black should not be deadly.

• Black Colorado Leaders Stress Need For Continued Movement & Social Justice (CBS4)

Denver, RTD, and the Metro Area

• The Broadway bike ‘superhighway’ might be done sometime in 2023? (Denverite)
• Mayor Hancock Spotlights Central 70 Project In Senate Committee Hearing On Future Of Transportation (CBS4)
  • Senate transportation hearing highlights need for investment in clean, safe and accessible transit (U.S. PIRG)
• Meet RTD’s snow removal team: ‘365 days a year, we’re thinking about snow’ (RTD)
• RTD Board approves policy that encourages development of affordable housing on RTD property (RTD)
• RTD suspends certification program for small construction businesses (Colorado Politics)
• Claudia Hanson Thiem: Northwest Rail may be alluring, but a Bus Rapid Transit network that moves more people for less money — and likely sooner — ought to be a political win (Boulder Daily Camera)
• Denver Air Quality Index: 8 a.m.: 54 (Moderate). Yesterday’s max: 46 (Good).

Centennial State

• Bill seeking to better hold careless drivers accountable advances at Colorado Capitol (Fox31)
• Breckenridge to place security on Main Street during spring break to enforce public health orders (Summit Daily News)

From Streetsblog

• Thursday’s Headlines As We Move Ahead (Streetsblog USA)
• Study: Low-Income Workers Relying More Heavily on Bikeshare (Streetsblog USA)
• Talking Headways Podcast: Less Congestion After Ride Hailing Cessation (Streetsblog USA)

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From Streetsblog

• Commentary by Allen Cowgill: I-270 Expansion Will Harm Latino Communities, Increase Air Pollution, and Accelerate Climate Change (Streetsblog Denver)
• Wednesday’s Headlines Help Us Dig Ourselves Out (Streetsblog USA)

Traffic Violence and Safe Streets

• A driver hit and seriously injured a person walking yesterday at S. Parker Road and Harvard (DPD Twitter)
• Aurora police ask for help locating hit-and-run [driver of] vehicle who hit a person walking yesterday at westbound E. Colfax and Beeler Street. Call Crime Stoppers (720-913-STOP) with info. (Fox31)
• 85-year-old bike rider hit and killed by garbage truck [driver] in Aurora, and both these news outlets seem to think the truck was driving itself (CBS4, 9News)
  • The Auroral Sentinel wrote a better headline: Dump truck driver strikes, kills 85-year-old cyclist crossing Havana Street in Aurora (Aurora Sentinel)
• Safe walking, biking, and transit means more than safety from drivers. Walking while Black should not be deadly.
  • Independent experts discuss findings in Elijah McClain’s death investigation (Fox31)
  • The Aurora City Council reacts to the Elijah McClain investigation that found officers mishandled the encounter (Colorado Matters/CPR)
  • Aurora Police Department to get independent monitor following Elijah McClain’s death (Colorado Sun, Aurora Sentinel)
  • Elijah McClain Report: Aurora Police Detective Tells 911 ‘He Got The Help He Needed’ (CBS4)
  • ‘Elijah McClain Should Still Be Here’: Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson responds to report (CBS4, Denverite, Fox31)
  • Littwin: According to a newly released report on Elijah McClain’s death, the only innocent person involved was McClain himself (Colorado Sun)

Denver, RTD, and the Metro Area

• Denver considering extending Shared Streets Initiative past March (Fox31)
• Design-build contract for 16th Street Mall revamp will cost city $149M (BusinessDen)
• RTD wants you to take a five-minute Safety & Security Survey by March 10 (RTD)
• RTD Black History Month feature: Three Black-owned businesses that worked on FasTracks (RTD)
• Transportation barriers to getting the COVID-19 vaccine and some helpful resources (9News)
• Denver Air Quality Index: 8 a.m.: 42 (Good). Yesterday’s max: 49 (Good).

Centennial State

• Colorado officials discuss challenging road ahead for state’s transportation funding (Grand Junction Daily Sentinel)
• Durango school zones to get upgraded signs and striping thanks to CDOT grant (Durango Herald)

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