Here’s what transportation advocates want to see from the mayor’s budget

Budget items include funding for red light cameras and sidewalks.
4 min. read
Drivers speed through the intersection of 14th Avenue and Federal Boulevard on the edge of Sun Valley. April 25, 2023.
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite

When the Denver's Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) presented its portion of the proposed 2024 budget to City Council, many councilmembers made one thing clear: The city is not doing enough to prevent death on Denver's streets.

Councilmembers asked for more money for things like the "Safe Routes to School" program and speed tables, and asked why DOTI has denied requests for specific-district items like traffic lights and crosswalks. A letter sent to Mayor Mike Johnston this week asked for $550,000 additional dollars to combat traffic deaths, $5 million for "Safe Routes to School" and $3 million for speed tables citywide.

DOTI's advisory board, made up of 19 people appointed by the mayor and City Council, echoed calls for more transit funding. In a letter sent to Johnston Tuesday, the board asked for more money to commit the city to Denver Moves Everyone, the latest in a number of city plans imagining future transportation networks for the city. The letter also asks the Mayor's Office to redirect funds for the Speer Tunnel System, predominantly for cars, toward efforts to improve school transit safety and bike lanes.

Board member Allen Cowgill said his two priorities include reducing speed limits and automated enforcement through things like red light cameras.

"I do think there is some wiggle room within the DOTI budget today to move some things around to better prioritize Vision Zero and multimodal goals," he said. "We're looking at record years of traffic deaths, and those are really tragic. The only appropriate number of people dying on our streets is zero."

Advocates also want the administration to make a stronger commitment to Vision Zero, a program Denver launched in 2016 with the goal of bringing traffic deaths down to zero by 2030.

Since that commitment, city traffic deaths hit a two-decade high of more than 80 fatal crashes in 2021 and 2022.

"We are concerned that this plan is significantly underfunded based on the budget for this year," the board wrote in its letter.

Advocates suggested reallocating increased money for paving toward Vision Zero efforts, and adding $50,000 for signage reducing the speed limit on major streets with high levels of injuries.

"We need to find a way to better fund it, because right now, we are not meeting those Vision Zero goals, not even getting close to them right now," Cowgill said. "I do think it needs to be a priority."

Board members also want the city to spend $1 million on 10 red light cameras around the city. Recently, the state expanded the use of speed cameras, and Aurora began its own pilot program in August. Proponents of speed cameras say they promote traffic safety while decreasing police interactions and racial profiling, but some studies show camera technology can have its own racial biases.

With the delay of Denver's sidewalk repair program, the DOTI advisory board also wants an additional $1 million for sidewalk repairs.

In 2022, voters approved an ambitious plan to levy fees on property owners to fix sidewalks citywide. But the rollout of that program has been delayed six months to the summer of 2024, over concerns about inequitable fees. Yet with new fees on the horizon, it's possible property owners will delay paying for their own sidewalk repairs in the short term. The letter from advocates asks the city to put up $1 million for repairs in the meantime.

Other suggestions include levying fees on construction that disrupts public infrastructure like crosswalks, and using that money to restore pedestrian infrastructure. The advisory board also wants the city to focus on enforcing parking violations that block bike lanes and sidewalks, and put $20,000 into a pilot snow removal program on neighborhood bikeways.

The letter also praises some parts of the proposed 2024 budget like money for the Colfax Bus Rapid Transit line, and the expansion of the microtransit Connector program to West Denver.

It's still unclear how many requests -- from City Councilmembers, DOTI or other staff -- will make it into Johnston's budget.

The Mayor has until Monday to respond to requests and release his final budget. Then Councilmembers can propose and vote on amendments, while the public can give comment on Oct. 23. City Council must pass a final budget by Nov. 13.

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