Denver committee hears plan for Alameda demonstration after staff retools lane-repurposing design

Denver transportation staff presented alternatives for the Alameda Avenue redesign and told the City Council’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee they plan a temporary, on-street demonstration to test how each design affects traffic diversion, congestion and safety before finalizing the project.

Amy, a staff presenter, said the department conducted a detailed individual-crash mitigation review and used planning tools, but wants to move beyond modeled scenarios to “put them onto the road” with demonstration deployments so the city can “gather data and put it back” while measuring diversion, congestion, crash rates and pedestrian comfort. She said demonstrations would run for several months and include public engagement on metrics and evaluation.

Staff said the original full lane repurposing design would have left one lane in each direction with center turn pockets, while the partial repurposing under consideration would leave two eastbound lanes and one westbound lane with dedicated turn pockets in some locations. The partial design was recommended after staff re-examined older crash data and community feedback, and because models suggested the full repurposing could cause side‑street diversion that would concentrate new traffic on Virginia Avenue adjacent to Wash Park.

Council members repeatedly asked staff for the evidence underpinning the change. Councilwoman Al Idris pressed for comparative safety numbers, noting residents’ concerns about vehicles entering homes and asking “what is the rate of people that may get injured because of that 5 percent difference?” Staff acknowledged long gaps in prior outreach and said some of the earlier analysis used data only through 2021; staff committed to producing updated crash-severity comparisons and average daily traffic figures for committee members.

Councilman Verdi and others cited internal emails and petitions and asked whether the decision had effectively been made in August. Amy said the team began new analyses in July–August and continued internal work through mid‑October before finalizing a recommendation but that the department had not stopped deeper analysis and wanted to validate findings with the proposed demonstration.

Staff tentatively offered to return to committee with high-level demonstration planning and updated data on Feb. 18 and said permanent safety features already planned — for example, flashing beacons at Franklin and targeted crossings — would continue to be implemented regardless of the final lane configuration. The committee did not take a formal vote; the chair said privately they prefer any demonstration include the full lane reduction so the city can evaluate that configuration directly.