Sprawl costs Denver metro commuters hundreds of dollars a year

Globeville's Saint Joseph Polish Catholic Church seen across I-70. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)
Research says sprawl costs Denver metro commuters $716 each year. That’s the bad news.
The good news is that, for this study, that’s not so bad. The average U.S. worker pays $1,400.
Researcher Daniel Hertz of City Observatory looked at sprawl in the top 50 metropolitan areas of the United States and calculated how much shorter commutes would be if the city didn’t take up so much space. To find the cost, he used AAA’s cost per mile for an mid-range sedan, then multiplied that by the “excess commuting distance,” which is the difference between the actual commute distance and the shorter distance in a compacted metro.
The Denver-Aurora-Lakewood metro was 41st, when it comes how much commuting costs you. That puts us in the company of the Tampa and San Diego metros.
Update: The caption has been changed to correct the name of the church.

Andy Rougeot has lots of money, few donors and an uphill-looking battle to be Denver’s next mayor

Denver’s paying out another $1 million in matching campaign contributions, giving some mayoral campaigns a major boost

Teen to be sentenced for 2020 Green Valley Ranch arson that killed 5 from Senegal

District 10 candidate Noah Kaplan wants to bring an educator’s perspective to City Council

The latest round of e-bike rebates ran out fast again

Denver Rescue Mission set for another $9 million from the city

The good and bad of Denver’s very snowy January

Sub-zero temps could skew Denver’s Point in Time count of people experiencing homelessness

Denver City Council votes to decriminalize jaywalking

Denver nonprofit Urban Peak lost state grant due to “performance issues”

Denver weather: It’s COLD out there

Protesters demand justice for Tyre Nichols at Colorado State Capitol after footage released

Denver’s McNichols building warming center is open now through Wednesday morning

RTD wants to ban passengers from riding with nowhere to go

Here are the mayoral candidates who qualified for the ballot

Rude Rec Center to reopen Monday after hosting emergency migrant shelter

Things to do in Denver this weekend, Jan. 27-29


Calling all divers: Casa Bonita is hiring hundreds
