Colorado Boulevard bus plan could double commutes as state overrides local vote

DENVER — A proposed bus rapid transit project on Colorado Boulevard would repurpose general-traffic lanes along a seven-mile corridor, roughly double southbound driver commute times according to the state’s own data, and require land for new sidewalks and bus platforms, all on a state highway where the Colorado Department of Transportation can build over the objections of the city next door. Dana Busch, an engaged Denver and Cherry Creek North citizen who has dug deep into the plan, brought it to listeners on The Kim Monson Show on June 23.

Colorado Boulevard carries the State Highway 2 designation, and because it is a state road the project is led by CDOT in collaboration with the RTD, the City and County of Denver, and regional planners, according to Denverite. That detail is the heart of the matter. The agency is expected to choose a design this summer, and the cities and neighborhoods that live along the road get a recommendation, not a veto.

A state highway means the state decides

The clearest test of who decides came on May 5, when the City of Glendale City Council voted unanimously, 5 to 0, for a resolution formally recommending the no-build option on the roughly one-mile segment that runs through the city, the Denver Gazette reported. The council reached that position after what the resolution described as hundreds of collective hours of discussion with CDOT.

Glendale City Manager Chuck Line did not mince words. “The juice is not worth the squeeze, not by a little, but by a long shot,” Line told CBS Colorado. He said the three design plans CDOT is weighing are “so extreme and have such a big impact on millions of residents of this area” that the agency should “go back to the drawing board.”

The vote is a recommendation. Glendale and Denver are partners and advisory voices, but CDOT selects the locally preferred alternative at its own discretion, and the agency has signaled it will make that pick this summer. Busch flagged exactly this on the show: “Colorado Boulevard is a state highway. So we have, you know, CDOT, we have the state involved,” she said, describing the added layer of authority that sits above the local governments and neighborhood associations now organizing in opposition.

What the alternatives would do

CDOT is reviewing four alternatives, according to the Denver Gazette: mixed-flow operations that keep buses in general-purpose lanes with signal priority, curbside bus lanes that double as right-turn lanes, dedicated center-running and side-running bus lanes that fully repurpose some general-purpose lanes, and no build. CDOT Region One BRT program manager Ryan Knowles said the department intends to maintain automobile and truck capacity through the corridor.

The data CDOT has produced tells a harder story for drivers. One configuration featuring center- and side-running bus lanes would double southbound commute times for drivers traveling the full corridor, from about 25 minutes to roughly 50 minutes, according to agency data reviewed by CBS Colorado; a side-running option would add about 40%. The options would speed buses by roughly 20% to 30%, partly by cutting service stops from about 50 to 20, Westword reported.

The dedicated-lane designs would also reshape the roadway itself. Busch described the side-running approach as reducing Colorado Boulevard from three driving lanes to two in each direction, possibly removing the center median for lack of width. Building the new sidewalks and elevated platforms would require land. The Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle reported that the cost of the side and mixed-use options would go toward “condemning land for rights-of-way along the roadway and building elevated bus stations.” Busch put the property question plainly on the show. “There will absolutely be eminent domain right-of-way issues on either side of the street to accommodate the sidewalks and the platforms that are necessary for the buses,” she said.

The cost and the ridership math

CDOT has not finalized a corridor cost. Reporting puts the project at up to $300 million depending on the design chosen, according to Denverite, which notes the agency has secured funding for design but not for construction. The Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle cited CDOT estimates of about $250 million for the side or mixed-flow lanes and about $350 million for center-running lanes. One open-house attendee told Westword he was against “spending $300 million” only to have RTD buy a new fleet of buses on top of it.

The ridership case is modest by comparison. About 2,800 to 3,000 people currently ride buses along the corridor each day, and CDOT forecasts that figure could roughly double to about 6,000 daily riders under a BRT system, according to CBS Colorado and Westword. That is the agency’s central justification. It is also where critics see the project failing its own test: a doubling sounds dramatic in percentage terms, but the absolute gain is on the order of 3,000 daily riders set against a project reported to cost up to $300 million and to roughly double driver commute times for the tens of thousands of cars that use the road every day.

Jon Caldara, president of the Independence Institute and a former RTD board chairman, framed the trade as deliberate. The dedicated-lane approach amounts to “destroying the overall capacity of vehicle traffic on that roadway,” Caldara told the Denver Gazette, comparing it to the Colfax BRT project. “They know it will only make traffic worse and that is by design,” he said.

Citizens want answers first

Busch’s central demand is transparency before commitment. “We’re being asked to support a massively expensive project without clear answers on cost, congestion, environmental impacts, property acquisition, or whether the community even wants it,” she told the Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle. “Taxpayers deserve transparency and accountability before Colorado Boulevard loses lanes to a project tied to an RTD system many residents no longer trust.”

She is not alone in asking. Hilltop resident Audry Oxley told the same paper that the project “still has far too many unanswered questions for residents to support it responsibly,” citing the absence of “comprehensive analysis of air and water quality impacts, storm drainage costs, traffic diversion into nearby neighborhoods, or the effects on private property owners along Colorado Boulevard.”

The timing sharpens the stakes. The project remains pre-decision, in an alternatives-analysis phase with design funded but construction not, and CDOT has said it is still working out the best solution. Yet the agency expects to lock in a preferred alternative within weeks, with construction projected to begin between 2027 and 2030. Busch said on the show that she will take part in a forum at the Denver Press Club on Thursday, June 25, alongside supporters of the project; Kim Monson confirmed on air that it begins at 6:30 p.m. at 1330 Glenarm Place.