Denver Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Meeting - March 4, 2026
Denver Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Meeting - March 4, 2026
The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee of the Denver City Council met on March 4, 2026, at 1:30 PM in the City & County Building. The meeting included a briefing on Vision Zero and neighborhood street safety, discussion of a record 93 traffic fatalities in 2025, and unanimous approval of nine consent agenda items.
Consent Calendar
- 26-0204 – Relinquished an easement at 5000 East Alameda Avenue (Council District 5). Approved by consent.
- 26-0209 – Dedicated a City-owned parcel as public right-of-way (Leetsdale Drive & South Oneida Street, District 5). Approved by consent.
- 26-0210 – Dedicated a City-owned parcel as public alley (bounded by North Perry Street, West 14th Avenue, North Osceola Street, West 13th Avenue, District 3). Approved by consent.
- 26-0211 – Dedicated a City-owned parcel as public alley (bounded by North Pearl Street, East 16th Avenue, North Washington Street, East 17th Avenue, District 10). Approved by consent.
- 26-0212 – Granted a revocable permit to ULC CLT, LLC for storm pipe, manhole, and retaining wall encroachment at 5375 West 10th Avenue (District 3). Approved by consent.
- 26-0213 – Dedicated City-owned parcels as public right-of-way (West 38th Avenue and public alley, District 1). Approved by consent.
- 26-0214 – Dedicated two City-owned parcels as public right-of-way (West 38th Avenue and public alley, District 1). Approved by consent.
- 26-0215 – Approved a facility lease with USO for 3,831.40 sq ft at Concourse A Mezzanine at Denver International Airport for $10 for ten years (District 11). Approved by consent.
- 26-0216 – Approved a purchase order with Front Range Fire Apparatus for $12,229,826 for fire apparatus at DEN (District 11). Approved by consent.
Briefings
Transportation 101: Neighborhood Streets and Vision Zero – Presented by Amy Ford (Executive Director, DOTI), Rolf Eisinger (Vision Zero Program Manager), and Jon Johnson (Principal City Planner). The presentation outlined Vision Zero philosophy, the safe system approach, 2025 safety data, speed program results, rapid response program, safe routes to school, and upcoming initiatives. The session was moved up in the cadence due to recent conversations about safety.
Discussion Items
- Chair Shontel Lewis opened by apologizing on the mayor’s behalf for calling opponents of the Alameda lane reduction “Trumpian,” thanking Councilwoman Alvidrez for addressing the issue. She also expressed appreciation for Director Ford’s responsive letter regarding the 13th/14th Avenue conversions and DOTI’s commitment to improved communication, stakeholder engagement, and a pause on projects with inadequate notification. She corrected a statement in the letter about flyer distribution and requested presentations be submitted on time for future meetings.
- Councilwoman Alvidrez called for a moment of silence for the 93 lives lost in 2025. She raised concerns about the speed camera program disproportionately affecting low-income communities of color on Federal and Alameda. Director Ford noted community outreach (including focus groups in Sun Valley, Valverde, Westwood) and that mitigation measures (e.g., ticket waiver, affordability program) are under development. Alvidrez also flagged that Alpmar Park may not have been included. She questioned the safe routes to school goal of increasing active transportation to 30% given pedestrian death data, and asked why speeds on high-injury corridors aren’t aggressively lowered. She requested reports on fatal crashes in her district. DOTI committed to follow-up.
- Councilman Flynn noted that lowering speed limits does not always reduce speeds. He requested a crosswalk beacon at Sabin Elementary (Dartmouth Avenue), an offset crosswalk at Denison Montessori (Yates & Jewell), and a list of 15 pedestrian crossings in design. He asked for clarification on how state highways are classified on the fatality-by-roadway-type slide. He also queried the “other” category in the 2025 fatalities-by-mode slide (two incidents involving an airport vehicle crash and an ATV snowplow). DOTI agreed to provide data.
- Councilman Kashmann questioned the new project evaluation program, noting that ongoing evaluation is essential. He called the $3.67 million safe routes to school budget “ludicrous” compared to need, and suggested redirecting funds from other large projects. He asked why fatalities rose despite existing efforts, and requested fatality rates per 1,000 residents. DOTI committed to providing per-capita data.
- Council President Sandoval urged inclusion of Denver Fire in rapid response field visits, citing different vantage points and data discrepancies between police and fire. She raised concerns about bike routes (e.g., 41st Avenue) pushing traffic to 32nd and 26th Avenues, and criticized delayed implementation of bond-funded rapid-flash beacons (e.g., 26th & Tennyson). She noted the loss of employees at DOTI and an increase in constituent complaints about communication. Chair Lewis requested a follow-up meeting on neighborhood streets.
- Council Pro Tem Romero Campbell asked about the safe routes to school travel plan program, requested attention to Hampton Avenue for Thomas Jefferson High School students, raised concerns about high-speed e-bikes/scooters, and questioned the status of beacon lights on the Highline Canal at Yale. DOTI committed to follow-up.
- Councilman Hinds offered to help achieve the mayor’s goal of 50% reduction in Vision Zero fatalities by 2026. He requested that future slides use “pedestrians” rather than “people walking” to include wheelchair users. He supported enforcement cameras in bike lanes and advocated for democratizing DOTI’s project data map. Chair Lewis also requested more detail on program delivery criteria, reasons for the fatality increase, and planned bike lane mileage. DOTI projected 18 miles of bike lanes in 2026.
Key Outcomes
- All nine consent items were approved unanimously (7-0).
- DOTI committed to: providing maps of safety projects by district, reports on fatal crashes in Councilwoman Alvidrez’s district, data on Sabin Elementary crosswalk, a list of pedestrian crossing locations, school zone beacon information, and per-capita fatality rates.
- DOTI will present automated speed camera ordinance language within the next month, including mitigation measures for equity.
- A follow-up briefing on neighborhood streets is planned within two months.
- Chair Lewis reinforced the expectation that DOTI presentations be submitted by Thursday noon to allow council preparation.
Meeting Transcript
Denver. It's time for this biweekly meeting of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee of Denver City Council. Join us for the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee starting now. My whole time growing up. Alrighty, let's get started. Okay. You started breaks. This party started. That's right. Good afternoon. My name is Chantel Lewis. I chair the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. And I'm happy to do so. I represent the constituents in District 8, and we can start with a round and introductions, and we can start with you, Councilman Hines. Good afternoon, Denver. Chris Irons, Denver is perfect. Kevin Flynn, Southwest Denver's District 2, and I have a few guests here who are journalism students at Metro State. Hi. Welcome. I am not a profession, nor do I play one on TV. Paul Cashman represents South Denver District 6. Great. We don't have anyone online yet, but I do know that some folks will be joining us online. I wanted to start um with a few things with a few announcements, excuse me. Well, maybe not because my computer just went to the wrong screen. I wanted to start with a few announcements because a few things have come up. I wanted to start with the Alameda Len Lane reduction. And I wanted to apologize on the mayor's behalf for calling people in opposition to the changes on Alamini Alameda Trumpian. Councilwoman Alvidris, you did an incredible job on Monday addressing this during our council. But I just wanted to mention that the times that the folks have come into our committee, they've been respectful, they have been thoughtful, they have brought signs and quietly protested. The second thing I wanted to address is I wanted to thank you, Director Ford, um, for your response to our letter for 13th and 14th Avenue. So for those of you that do not know, um Councilman Hines, um, Councilwoman Sawyer, Councilwoman Perity, and Councilwoman Gonzalez Gutierrez and I um sent a letter to Dottie regarding the uh rollout of the 13th and 14th conversions. Um and while I'm not gonna read the entire response here, I did want to um show my appreciation for the responsibility that you took, one in that letter, but also in the um RO meeting that we had um briefly after the rollout. Um and you started with an apology, and so I thank you for that. Um and you started with the recognition that Dottie um did not have the communication in place uh to let residents know what was going on with the project. And then you went on further to talk about what were some of the things that you all were committed to doing in the future as we look at not just this project but projects throughout our entire city. And some of those was an enhanced chain of command approval process before any project hits the street that includes a review of stakeholder engagement and communication checklists. The second is we will immediately review projects that directly impact residents that are pending in the near and medium term to ensure that we provide sufficient public notification prior to proceeding. This will include a review of when and to whom the engagement and notification occurs. And then third, I call for staff to pause implementation of any project found to have an adequate notification or engagement in order to complete that process prior to proceeding. And I know those things um came directly from Dottie, but also from the interactions that we had with our constituents, and so I wanted to thank you for that as well. I did want to offer a correction, and you provided this in writing as well. Um, is that in the letter it said that you all reached out to my office in early February uh to let us know of the the change and provided a flyer for distant dissemination, which was untrue. Um we did have we and we do have regular meetings. We had a meeting in January in which you let us know that the change would be happening and that you would send us over the flyer, however, the flyer never came um into the office, and thus we were not informed when the change was actually happening happening. Dotti did send over a response to a cons constituent service aid um from an inquiry that we had heard from a constituent uh about 13th and 14th, but it was retroactive in nature and not proactive. It wasn't a proactive major um proactive message, excuse me, that it that could have been used. Um had the information been provided to us, we would have absolutely informed communities in real time to make sure that they knew right away. So when I found out, that is when I let them know. The final thing is for the members of this committee.
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