“On July 1, Denver will receive an extra $7.4 million from the statewide transportation funding deal struck Tuesday at the capitol, according to the Denver Budget and Management Office. The city will receive an extra $2.2 million next year.
In theory, the Colorado Department of Transportation could match the $10 million through its newly established “miltimodal” fund, giving the city $20 million to spend on walking, biking, and transit.
To be clear: $10 or $20 million over the next two years is a drop in the bucket, and urban transportation was never the point of Senate Bill 1. But if Mayor Michael Hancock is serious about finally prioritizing the movement of people over shoving more cars through city streets, he will dedicate all of it — and more — to unfunded and underfunded transit, biking, and walking projects.
According to Hancock’s own Denveright Pedestrians and Trails Plan, it would take 220 years to build out the city’s spotty and shoddy sidewalk network at current funding levels. The city’s first-ever transit plan, which lays out a blueprint for a frequent bus and rail grid, is almost entirely unfunded — and there’s no public estimate of what it will cost. The city’s bike plan is a little better off thanks to last year’s bond measure, but still decades away from completion.”
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Sachs, David. Streets Blog Denver 11 May, 2018.