The Colorado Department of Transportation is back for round two, hosting a second public open house for the Colorado Boulevard Bus Rapid Transit project this Wednesday, May 13, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Clayton Early Learning Center.
Neighbors and transit advocates say the corridor is overdue for help: buses crawl, sidewalks vanish and serious crashes stack up. According to Denver Streets Partnership, Colorado Boulevard is part of the region’s high‑injury network and has seen thousands of crashes and dozens of fatal or serious‑injury collisions in recent years.
What officials will show
At the open house, CDOT staff will walk people through four choices for the corridor: three final design alternatives — mixed‑flow, side‑running, and a center/side hybrid — plus a no‑build option. Boards for the meeting map proposed station locations along the boulevard and spelled out where bus‑only lanes or curbside stations could go. Those graphics and station concepts are summarized in materials from the Colorado Department of Transportation, which illustrate how different lane and station layouts might play out on the ground.
Neighbors and advocates
Local groups and business‑area boosters say they want transit that feels faster and safer, but are bracing for construction headaches and access challenges while work happens. Community coalitions such as Denver Streets Partnership have been pressing for upgrades along the corridor, and reporting from Denverite shows advocates pushing for continuous dedicated bus lanes and better sidewalks instead of scattered, one‑off fixes.
Choices, tradeoffs and next steps
CDOT’s own screening work highlights the tradeoffs on the table. Center‑running bus lanes can move riders more quickly, but the agency’s analysis flagged that setup as creating unacceptable traffic impacts in parts of the corridor, along with higher construction impacts and higher costs. In an update on X, the Colorado Department of Transportation says it plans to recommend one alternative in 2026, after which project partners, including the Regional Transportation District and the Federal Transit Administration, would spend roughly a year reviewing that pick.
For Wednesday’s open house, CDOT has also laid out the practical details: free parking on both the east and west sides of the Clayton campus, bicycle parking at Administration Building I, Spanish interpretation available on request, and a project hotline at 720‑900‑5609 for questions. The Colorado Department of Transportation has a full breakdown of meeting materials and contact information on its event page.
What to watch next
The corridor is already tagged in regional plans as a priority trunk BRT route, which helps explain the urgency around settling on an alternative this year. Planning documents from the Denver Regional Council of Governments and system updates like RTD’s May newsletter show multiple BRT corridors advancing across the metro area, so CDOT’s ultimate choice on Colorado Boulevard could kick off formal design and funding work within the next 12 to 24 months.
Anyone who cannot make it to the open house can still review the boards and leave comments through the project feedback links on the Colorado Boulevard BRT project website, which will be collecting input as the agency narrows down its final pick.
