After years of planning, traffic cones and impatient honking, Denver has finally wrapped up a major safety overhaul on West Colfax Avenue, transforming the stretch between Irving Street and Sheridan Boulevard into a calmer, more walkable corridor. The roughly $15.5 million project added landscaped medians, curb extensions and larger transit stops, all aimed at slowing speeding drivers and making one of the city’s widest, most intimidating streets easier to cross.
What the project built
Along West Colfax, crews installed eight landscaped median refuge islands, 37 pedestrian bulb-outs at 19 intersections, new ADA-compliant ramps and two transit bulb-outs that expand waiting areas and help buses load and unload more efficiently, as detailed by the City and County of Denver. The city says these features are designed to shorten crossing distances, slow turning vehicles and give people a safer spot to pause while they cross the multi-lane roadway.
Money and timeline
The overhaul carries a roughly $15.5 million price tag and was funded through the voter-approved Elevate Denver bond program, according to Denverite notes. Construction officially broke ground in mid-2024, and while early timelines pointed to a 2025 wrap, work continued into this summer before crews finished the major installation pieces.
Neighbors welcome the change
People who live and walk along West Colfax say the difference is obvious the moment you try to cross the street. “It looked messy,” Rabbi Yisrael Kellner told CBS News Colorado, recalling the chaotic traffic pattern before the work. Eleven-year-old Yechiel Mozes, who remembered close calls at the crosswalks, said the new medians let him “stop halfway” when he is crossing the wide corridor. Councilwoman Jamie Torres called the project “a huge accomplishment” after years of pressure from neighbors and advocates, the outlet reported.
How it fits with Denver's safety goals
West Colfax sits on Denver’s high-injury network, the set of streets where crashes are most severe and frequent, and the upgrades are a key piece of the city’s Vision Zero effort to cut serious traffic injuries and deaths. As outlined by the City and County of Denver, crews working with contractor Graham Contracting have finished the roadway changes, pedestrian bulb-outs and medians, with landscaping work scheduled to keep going through July.
What's next
The fresh concrete and new greenery cap off a long campaign by neighbors and the West Colfax Business Improvement District, which fought to keep landscaped medians on the table after budget shortfalls threatened to strip away the plantings, as reported by Westword. City officials say the finished design should slow drivers and help buses move more reliably, outcomes that residents, parents and daily bus riders will be watching for closely as the new trees and shrubs settle into their median homes.
