Fri, Jan 23, 2026·Denver, Colorado·Council Committees

DOTI Alameda Ave Lane Repurposing Update & Safety Review Discussion (2026-01-23)

Discussion Breakdown

Transportation Safety63%
Community Engagement35%
Active Transportation1%
Equity in Transportation1%

Summary

DOTI Alameda Ave Lane Repurposing Update & Safety Review Discussion (2026-01-23)

DOTI staff presented updated design concepts and engagement history for the Alameda Avenue lane repurposing project, contrasting the original “full” lane repurposing with a revised “partial” option intended to reduce diversion impacts—particularly to Virginia Avenue near Wash Park. Council members pressed DOTI on trust, accuracy of communications, timing of the “partial” decision, how Vision Zero commitments are reflected in the design choice, and what evidence supports safety outcomes. DOTI proposed a temporary on-street demonstration deployment in 2026, paired with continued data collection and additional safety review, before finalizing the permanent design.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Councilmember comments reflecting constituent positions (no public speakers captured in provided excerpt):
    • Councilwoman Alvidrez expressed continued support for the safety project and emphasized prioritizing residents’ safety concerns (e.g., fear of vehicles crashing into homes) over convenience delays; requested clearer safety comparisons (injury risk) tied to modeled diversion differences.
    • Councilman Cashman stated support for the full lane repurposing and argued that moving to a hybrid/partial plan—perceived as prompted by a well-resourced opponent—undermines public trust; requested clarification on whether DOTI decided on the partial approach before additional analysis.
    • Councilmember Hines emphasized personal stake in Vision Zero (noting being hit by a car while biking) and questioned how Vision Zero goals can be met if pedestrian/cyclist improvements are “scaled back”; raised concern about undermining future stakeholder processes if recommendations can be reversed after the fact.
    • Councilman Parady challenged DOTI’s statements as inaccurate or “spin,” disputing how DOTI characterized community support and the August decision timeline; argued safety decisions should not be framed as a “compromise,” and questioned the objectivity of DOTI’s comparative safety framing.
    • Councilwoman Gilmore stated trust in DOTI on this project is “nil,” cited concern about influence by a lobbyist with prior DOTI ties, and encouraged community accountability efforts; cautioned that engineers can be wrong.
    • Councilmember Flynn (referencing prior lane repurposing history) raised concern that a prior full lane repurposing attempt (2011–2012) “increased crashes,” asked what is different now, and requested hard data on crashes and traffic volumes then vs. now.

Discussion Items

  • Alameda lane repurposing: design alternatives

    • DOTI described partial lane repurposing (two lanes eastbound, one lane westbound, with center turn pockets) versus full lane repurposing (one lane each direction with center turn pockets).
    • DOTI stated the change to two lanes eastbound was driven by crash patterns and congestion/diversion concerns, emphasizing left-turn and sideswipe crash history.
  • Diversion and Virginia Avenue safety concerns

    • DOTI staff stated the “so what” of diversion became central: congestion on Alameda under full repurposing could divert vehicles to side streets, with Virginia Avenue singled out due to proximity to Wash Park and existing pedestrian/cyclist activity.
    • DOTI referenced crash history on Virginia (e.g., “58 total crashes over four years,” including “two non-fatal injury crashes,” and discussion of pedestrian/cyclist crashes occurring on Virginia).
    • Council members questioned whether modeled diversion differences (discussed as around “5%” in committee dialogue) justify design changes given Alameda’s higher crash totals and severity.
  • Safety analysis methods and what data “counts”

    • DOTI described performing an individual crash review (looking at crashes one-by-one to identify mitigations) and distinguished this from broader planning tools (e.g., LOSS analyses).
    • DOTI stated that on Alameda the documented crash history is primarily vehicular crashes (rear-end, sideswipes, left-turn related), while Virginia’s concern was pedestrian/cyclist interaction.
    • DOTI stated (in response to questions) there were no reported pedestrian/cyclist crashes on Alameda in the period referenced, while the pedestrian safety focus on Alameda is primarily improving crossings.
  • Engagement process, timing gaps, and trust

    • DOTI acknowledged a long lag between early outreach (virtual open house in 2020; earlier engagement discussed) and implementation readiness (funding obtained later), and said that gap contributed to people feeling uninformed.
    • DOTI discussed distinguishing “engage” vs “inform,” stated an internal reorganization moved communications under external affairs to improve coordination, and said DOTI is developing an RNO engagement strategy.
    • Council members asserted DOTI did not clearly signal when it shifted from engagement to informing/implementation, and argued the partial redesign appeared to be communicated abruptly (including via press release).
  • Petitions and community positions (as discussed in meeting)

    • DOTI referenced a petition opposing the project with 300 signatures and another supporting (“Safer Alameda”) with about 175 signatures at the time.
    • Councilman Parady disputed DOTI’s characterization of “50/50” community sentiment and argued petition geography and totals were being misstated; DOTI replied that the “50/50” reference related to sentiments at a 2024 public meeting rather than petitions.
  • Proposed 2026 demonstration deployment and phased implementation

    • DOTI proposed a temporary demonstration deployment for “several months,” similar to past demonstrations (e.g., Broadway bike lane), to validate real-world impacts (congestion, diversion, safety, comfort).
    • DOTI stated it had not finalized whether the demo would test the full design first, the partial design first, or both in sequence; details (extent/segment length, metrics, duration) were described as in development.
    • DOTI also proposed moving forward in 2026 with permanent safety elements common to both designs (e.g., a flashing beacon at Franklin, and improvements at Virginia & Downing).
  • Historical comparison: 2011–2012 prior lane repurposing

    • Councilmember Flynn stated that a prior full lane repurposing (2011–2012) increased crashes and was removed; requested data on how today’s design differs and traffic volume comparisons.
    • DOTI stated ADT previously was “a little over 20,000” and is now “between 15 and 17,000,” and suggested past issues related to less-defined center turning movements versus today’s planned, more defined turn pockets and turn restrictions.

Key Outcomes

  • No final design decision recorded in the provided excerpt.
  • DOTI committed to:
    • Developing and returning with specifics for a temporary demonstration deployment (duration “several months,” metrics and location to be refined).
    • Engaging council and community on demo design, success metrics, and evaluation approach.
    • Providing additional data requested by council, including:
      • Crash severity comparisons (Alameda vs Virginia) and updated crash data.
      • Average daily traffic (ADT) and crash data comparisons for 2011–2012 vs current conditions.
  • Council direction/pressure (expressed positions):
    • Multiple council members urged DOTI to prioritize objective safety outcomes and rebuild public trust through transparent, accurate communications; several expressed preference to test the full repurposing (at least in demonstration form) to evaluate safety impacts directly.

Meeting Transcript

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It was to maintain the safety and access for drivers, to reduce crashes along the corridor, to enhance safety and comfort for pedestrians and cyclists, to support transit services, and to support business access and activity. So this is a messy roll plot graphic of the partial lane repurposing, which is the design we have right now. And then below is the full lane repurposing. And I have a slide after this that kind of goes into more details. But just so you know, from a higher level, the partial lane repurposing has two lanes in the eastbound direction. This just shows one intersection. And then one lane going westbound. And it also provides middle turnpockets. pockets. And why we decided to kind of change it to the two lanes and the eastbound while one lane keeping the reduction westbound is because our data showed that that was where the problem was. That was where the crashes were, mostly left turn crashes, side swipes, things like that. So The full lane repurposing was the original design, and you can see it's one lane in each direction with the middle having turned pockets. So what does that all mean? Here's more details into the project elements, what we're talking about, and where there's changes. So I want to highlight that a lot of the pedestrian safety improvements have been kept, no matter if we're talking about the partial lane repurposing or the full lane repurposing here. And that's important because we certainly don't want to, we want to, one of our goals is that pedestrian safety, certainly. lane. Where you can see the difference, again, is that we would have to do some signal upgrades because of just the way the partial has the signals overhanging. And then those signal upgrades would cause reconstruction and ADA ramp upgrades at Emerson Street specifically. And then the partial lane repurposing also pulled out signal timing and protected left turns on Virginia and Downing to mitigate side diversion. And let me explain kind of why that is. So the full repurposing, the original design that was published in March 2024, 2025, I'll get to our timeline, was really looking at Alameda specifically. And with Alameda, we felt that the full lane repurposing was the way to go to, again, address the crash picture, the turn crashes, and the side swipes. But then when the partial repurposing really dives into looking at the neighborhood from a more holistic point of view, because that full lane repurposing causes congestion along Alameda. And now that may not seem like an issue. And honestly, it's not until we look at what that causes. So the congestion causes side street diversion. And most of our side streets throughout the city can handle diversion, right? I think in this situation, when we're looking at Alameda, First Ave can handle it. We're not worried about Cedar was brought up, not worried about that. When we look and dive in, and we'll go into this, about where we are worried about the problem, it's specifically along Virginia Avenue. And that's the street that butts up against Wash Park, where we already have a lot of cyclists, a lot of pedestrians. We have some crashes that involve pedestrians and cyclists already there. And we really think the partial lane repurposing would not push cars onto Virginia, therefore not exacerbate, basically create another problem on a side street and would be better for the neighborhood as a whole. All right. I'm going to go into community engagement now because I think this has been a process that has forced us to evaluate how we do engagement. And I just want to explain, you know, in a perfect world, how we see this happening. Often our world is not perfect, and I'll kind of use Alameda to talk through this. So, you know, at first we ask people to identify the problem. not the solution. And I think I've talked to all the council members I work with normally hear me say this, because we want to know what the problem is and get at the root of that. There are things, not everyone clearly is an engineer. And so sometimes there's things in our toolbox that the public doesn't know about, which is why we ask it to be framed that way. And how we identify problems varies, right? We work with you all. We work with R&Os, the mayor's office, and 311 is still a very useful resource for us to identify problems. And then once a problem is identified, we will do further data collection, right? We look at the crash history, the vehicle volumes, look at historical engagement in the area, what's going on with our partners in CPD or what their plans have to say about the area, and again, that 311 history. If it gets elevated to the point of, you know what, yeah, engineering can find a solution here and be a solution, we then identify those solutions. And we do do that through community engagement often, where we have, and in the instance of Alameda, this was definitely the route we took, we have public meetings.