For our last 2023 meeting, this month we have a great mix of topics including meeting the project lead for Denver’s update of its long-range bike network vision, and three topics that feature community-led efforts towards safety and sustainability in how we move. All of these topics bring opportunities to get involved!

• Denver Moves: Bikes – Updating Denver’s Recommended Bikeways Map
• Brown International Academy Bike Bus
• How Crossing Guards Became Cool
• Peña Boulevard Study Needs A Transit-First Core Alternative

See the full agenda below and join us by Zoom this Thursday, November 9th from 6-8pm.

INC Transportation Committee – Thursday, November 9th, 6-8 p.m. via Zoom
Register at https://bit.ly/INCTransportationNov2023

• Denver Moves: Bikes – Updating Denver’s Recommended Bikeways Map – Taylor Phillips, DOTI Senior City Planner
  Denver has just kicked off a one-year effort to update the Denver Moves: Bikes recommended bikeways map, and we’re excited to have the project lead join us right at the start of the effort. We’ll hear the context and goals of this update and learn about the project’s online survey tool, where Denverites can provide input to this key long-range plan. Last updated in 2015, this revision will map out a more comfortable and complete bike network, so all residents will have easy access to high-comfort bikeways.
• Brown International Academy Bike Bus — Allen Cowgill, Brown Bike Bus Crew
  50 years ago, about half of all kids walked or biked to school.  Today that number is closer to 13%.  Inspired by the Bike Bus movement popularized in cities like Barcelona & Portland, a collection of Denver Public School parents in North Denver has started a group bike ride to get to school to encourage kids to take more active transportation. They have had groups of up to 70 kids and parents biking to school together. Studies show that kids that get physical activity before school perform better in the classroom. Come learn more about the Bike Bus concept and how to start your own neighborhood bike bus.
• How Crossing Guards Became Cool — Amy Kenreich, West Wash Park Neighborhood Association
  On October 4th, National Walk & Roll to School day, Denver Public Schools crossing guards were joined by 40 “Celebrity Crossing Guards” including many elected officials, public safety leaders, media personalities and other notables, highlighting the important service that crossing guards provide to students and communities. They also promoted the need for more crossing guards at DPS schools, especially where busy roads block safe access of otherwise-walkable routes to school. Amy Kenriech will share with us the importance of safe routes to school and how you and your neighbors can help.
• Peña Boulevard Study Needs A Transit-First Core Alternative – James Flattum and Richard Bambler, Greater Denver Transit
  Denver International Airport is currently examining options for improving ground transportation access to the airport in their Peña Boulevard Transportation and Mobility Master Plan.  However, all of the options so far considered as “Core Alternatives”  are highway expansions that either add lanes to Peña or construct a new parallel frontage road. There is currently not one “Core Alternative” that seriously considers upgrading transit infrastructure such as the RTD Commuter Rail A Line which could run more frequently and with higher capacity. Other cities have leveraged airport funding, within the limits established by the Federal Aviation Administration, to improve transit options, but reporting by Denverite found that Denver International Airport hasn’t asked the FAA what would be allowable here.  This month, we’ll hear from transit advocates with Greater Denver Transit and their vision for what a transit-first option could look like, as they, along with many other advocacy groups, call on the Mayor and the airport to add such an option to this important study.