Allen Cowgill (Photo by Adam Bove)
This guest commentary is by Allen Cowgill, a Denver advocate focused on safer streets and sustainable transportation. He is a member of the Denver Bicycle Lobby and is on Twitter at @AllenCowgill.
The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) is planning to increase lanes for cars and trucks on I-270 and says this project is about “improvements and safety.” In reality, it will increase pollution in neighborhoods inhabited mostly by people of color and could accelerate climate change by encouraging more people to drive.
CDOT could rapidly increase safety by improving deadly state highways: Federal, Colfax, Colorado, Sheridan, Alameda, and other urban arterials are the deadliest streets in Denver. This isn’t just a Denver problem. From 2009 to 2016, U.S. arterial roads designed to move large volumes of traffic quickly saw a 67% increase in pedestrian fatalities.
When the COVID-19 pandemic first tightened its grip on Colorado in March, and residents were ordered to stay at home, the entire pulse of its capital city shifted and with it, the possible future of its streets. With well under half the normal amount of traffic on the roads, and experts encouraging people to find safe reprieve and exercise outdoors, Coloradans were, not surprisingly, quick to do exactly that. Hitting the pavement and paths right outside their doors proved to be a welcome escape from the cabin fever of quarantine except that, according to Rob Toftness, co-founding member of Denver Bicycle Lobby, it also illuminated Denver’s underlying infrastructure flaws that had been festering since long before social distancing efforts became a necessity.