The promise of frequent fast buses on a friendlier Colorado Boulevard drew 140 residents out of rush hour jams along this often-overloaded state highway and into a Colorado Department of Transportation forum recently to examine plans for an overhaul.
They hovered over a tabletop map of the route for CDOT’s proposed “bus rapid transit” (BRT) — high-capacity buses that zip to sleek stations along what typically are dedicated lanes — scrawling suggestions on bright-colored sticky notes: “Free rides for the older population.” “Bus service should be easy to use.” “Please keep three through lanes.” “Lower prices.” They surrounded CDOT’s project designers weighing pros and cons of converting car lanes for buses and whether the BRT should run down the center or a side. Some urged an expansive reconstruction integrating better sidewalks, green space, and a bicycle lane.
“I’ve been in Denver my whole life. I have hated Colorado Boulevard my whole life,” said Kelsey Yallop, 30, a customer service worker who faces it daily. “It is just a really poorly designed road. There’s a lack of bus stops and sidewalks. I’d like to see something safer that makes it easier to reach light rail and the A Line from where I live.”
Starting Friday, construction crews will tear into East Colfax Avenue to start work on Denver’s first BRT system — a $280 million project converting two car lanes into a bus-only central corridor from the state capitol to Yosemite Street, ultimately extending to the Colfax intersection with Interstate 225. It is scheduled for completion by mid-2026.
Meanwhile, design and planning work is underway along Federal Boulevard and a nine-mile stretch of Colorado Boulevard from Interstate 70 south to a point near Hampden Avenue.
The idea is to boost mobility by giving drivers a better option, reducing overall traffic, and ensure that buses run faster and more frequently than the current Regional Transportation District trains and buses. Colorado lawmakers have prioritized better public transit and created a new state funding mechanism by charging a fee for oil and gas operations in the state.
CDOT has been leading the BRT effort — the major arterials are technically state highways — by lining up federal funds to cover the bulk of the costs. City governments are helping with planning and contributing funds. RTD eventually must buy the BRT buses and run them along the new routes.
“There’s a terrific thirst for transit that is frequent and reliable,” said state Rep. Meg Froelich, leader of the House transportation committee, in an interview where she cast BRT on clogged arterials as the first step toward a metro-wide transformation.
“RTD would have you believe nobody is commuting anymore because the pandemic changed our patterns, but the enthusiasm for BRT would say otherwise,” Froelich said. “Once we get our buses and trains full, then they will be safer.”
RTD buses in metro Denver often run less frequently than the 15-minute intervals engineers use to define BRT. On Colorado Boulevard, RTD’s schedule shows that buses (Route #40) run every 16 minutes on the 6.5-mile stretch between I-25 and I-70. But they’re victims of congestion — Colorado Boulevard carries up to 68,000 cars a day — especially in right-hand lanes where bus drivers struggle to reach bus stops amid backed-up right-turning drivers.
Some RTD buses in metro Denver are scheduled to run every 30 minutes. Others run once per hour.
RTD’s overall ridership in July this year measured 13% less than in July 2023, the latest agency records show. The annual ridership on RTD buses and trains has decreased from 106 million in 2019 to around 63 million, according to American Public Transportation Association data.
RTD communications staffers said the agency will try to “optimize” service in the future. But no specific service improvements have been proposed for consideration by the RTD’s 15-member elected board. Nor have RTD officials proposed restorations of train and bus services that in recent years were cut.
Bus rapid transit lanes where RTD presumably would run buses faster and more frequently along major arterials could transform mobility throughout Denver, said Matt Frommer, senior transportation and land use policy analyst for the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project. While RTD’s overall ridership has not recovered from the pandemic, buses along Colfax, Federal, and Colorado Boulevard remained relatively full due to heavy use by essential workers, he said, anticipating success when BRT construction is done.
“Riding transit will be faster than driving,” Frommer said.
Last month, Colorado’s Transportation Commission set new goals for the state, including an increase in transit service by 83% before 2037.
Colorado lawmakers created the RTD in 1969 to develop, operate, and maintain large-scale transit systems, such as the FasTracks rail network, which hasn’t been completed. The agency’s annual budget has grown to more than $1 billion but RTD hasn’t gained new revenue sources since voters in 2004 approved a sales tax hike to fund expansion. On Nov. 5, RTD directors will ask voters to let the agency keep the tax revenue RTD collects instead of providing refunds required under Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights — extending an exemption that otherwise would expire in November.
“We normally would expect RTD to be taking the lead in the design of a project, including getting the money. It says a lot that CDOT and the cities are doing transportation projects directly, rather than working with RTD,” said transportation engineer Richard Bamber, a co-founder of the advocacy group Greater Denver Transit. GDT is pressing for a full redesign of Colorado Boulevard including bus-exclusive center lanes, two lanes in each direction for cars, better sidewalks for pedestrians, and a bicycling lane.
Along Colorado Boulevard, the construction will begin in 2028 and take 18 to 24 months, CDOT’s BRT program manager Ryan Noles said. CDOT is competing for a federal grant to help fund the overhaul, similar to a grant secured for the Colfax project, which requires keeping costs under $400 million, he said.
“We could see double the bus ridership that we see today along Colorado Boulevard,” Noles said. “People don’t want to be stuck in traffic. What we heard at this open house is that people are concerned about what traffic will look like during and after the project.”
It’s a core part of daily existence for residents.
“Colorado Boulevard has become so congested because of all the people living here. Our roads are not equipped for the amount of traffic we have,” said Antjuan Bouldin, 39, who works at a Ping Pong training facility and struggles with the uncertainty of relying on buses. He supports “anything we can do to help the flow so we can reach places on time and help people feel less road rage.”
During the forum, CDOT’s lead design contractor Jarle Jacobson, with the Canadian company Architecture, Engineering and Construction (Aecon), spoke with scores of participants, pointing to examples of new BRT in other U.S. cities that are re-balancing space for buses and cars.
In Salt Lake City, Jacobson helped install a BRT system that significantly improved mobility along a major arterial that often was jammed — similar to Colorado Boulevard, he told participants.
Utah Transit Authority managers got a grant that allowed them to offer all residents free rides on the BRT to help them explore and establish new habits. “Now people don’t even look at the schedule” because they know buses will arrive at least once every 15 minutes and sometimes every 6 minutes, he said.
A once-clogged route carrying 50,000 vehicles a day improved. “It is still busy. But a lot of people are on that bus — 14,000 a day. The BRT is being used and it is a viable good option.”
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