Denver transportation officials are floating a bold change for a quirky Capitol Hill block, proposing to shut the S-curve of East 11th Avenue to through car traffic and hand it over almost entirely to people on foot and on bikes.
Under the concept, the one-block stretch between Grant and Logan streets would stay open to walking and biking, with drivers forced to find other ways around. The proposal is one piece of a larger traffic and bikeway package that Denver's Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, or DOTI, plans to walk neighbors through Wednesday evening at a public open house at the Denver Central Library. Residents who live east of the curve say the shift could snarl their daily driving routines and make it harder to reach nearby businesses.
As reported by the Denver Gazette, DOTI's Civic Center and Capitol Hill Action Plan shows the block closed to cars and includes renderings that appear to place flex posts and white bollards along the curve to guard a bikeway. According to the Gazette, the city packet includes a crash graphic that tallies 26 collisions at the two nearby intersections between 2018 and 2021, including one crash involving a person walking and one serious-injury crash. No bike crashes are listed in that chart.
How the move fits Denver's strategy
DOTI is pitching the closure as part of its Neighborhood Transportation Management work and its broader Denver Moves: Everyone 2050 strategy, which centers on a Vision Zero goal of eliminating traffic deaths and shifting more street space to people walking and biking. The department often rolls out changes with temporary "paint-and-post" pilots that can later be rebuilt in concrete if the numbers show better safety and access.
That phased tactic is meant to cut serious crashes while giving neighbors and businesses time to react, send in comments and point out any unintended side effects. In other words, DOTI wants to try things in plastic and paint before committing with curbs and pavement.
Neighbors push back
Some people in Capitol Hill are not thrilled about the idea of losing a familiar cut-through. "That’s a traffic impairment," said Steve Weil, who told the Denver Gazette he drives East 11th every day to his western-wear shop Rockmount and has "never seen a safety issue" on that segment.
The neighborhood group Neighbors for a Greater Capitol Hill says it plans to send members to the open house, where they intend to press city staff on how the change would affect circulation, parking and access for residents and local businesses.
What to expect at the meeting
DOTI staff are scheduled to lay out the neighborhood action plan and take public feedback from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Park View Event Room at the Denver Central Library at 14th Avenue and Broadway. According to the city’s Denver Moves: Everyone materials, the department typically gathers comments, tracks how pilots perform and studies crash and usage data before deciding whether to turn short-term setups into permanent designs.
For those who cannot make it in person, DOTI says project details and timelines will be available on its project webpages after the meeting, so the fight over the 11th Avenue S-curve will not be confined to the library walls.
