Denver's Quebec St. Traffic Plan Needs A Reboot: Critics

DENVER, CO --Quebec Street on Denver's east end, between East 13th Avenue and East 26th Avenue, is a north-south traffic choke-point with missing sidewalks, unsheltered bus stops and dangerous intersections which average two crashes a week. Quebec Street traffic flow is congested, especially in the mornings, according to studies by Denver Public Works, dragging a trip from three minutes out to eight.

The course of roadway between the Montclair and Stapleton neighborhoods has been on the Denver Public Works Dept.'s radar for ten years, and has even been part of a masterplan to spend at least $20 million in (matched) federal grant money to improve it. The current plan is to widen the roadway from two to four lanes and install sidewalks, bus shelters and pedestrian-friendly intersections. Denver Public Works held an Open House Wednesday at The Hope Center, 3475 Holly St., as part of the public input process required by law when Federal Highway Administration monies are used.

But now that Mayor Michael Hancock has announced a new "Mobility Action Plan" aimed at reducing auto traffic in the city and the Vision Zero Plan to end auto fatalities, some say expanding Quebec is a stale idea in traffic management whose time has come -- and left.

Transportation journalist David Sachs, who publishes the Streetsblog Denver calls the Quebec Street plan a "zombie project" that is out of date with the current transportation planning mindset.

On some blocks the street would go from 29 feet wide to 48 feet wide. Why? DPW claims spending millions will save drivers a little over three minutes during rush hour. We know that widening streets does not fix congestion — it generates more cars and traffic, encourages higher speeds, and creates longer crossings, discouraging safe travel.

Sachs believes Denver Public Works should pump the brakes on the plan and reconsider whether it's worth eating into front yards along the block just to save a few minutes of traffic.

"You don't need to widen the road to put in a sidewalk or bus shelters that give people dignity while waiting for the bus," Sachs said. "If the mayor really wants to make transit, walking and biking easier and safer and make us less dependent on cars. Why make it wider for cars? Let’s make that a transit-only lane."

Nancy Kuhn, communications director of Denver Public Works said in an email that in the Quebec Street plan, Denver is considering transit improvements, continuous sidewalks, better bus stop amenities and "possibly queue jumps that provide buses a head start before cars at intersections.

"A major part of the Federal Environmental Analysis process is to gather public input," Kuhn said. "The concept of dedicating a lane in each direction of a widened Quebec to buses only, either full time or part time, has recently been suggested. The project team has taken that input and will be evaluating the benefits and impacts of that concept against the purpose and need of the project and will bring results of that evaluation back to the public later in the process."

A sister-plan on Syracuse Street, a few blocks east, would make a north-south route that is bicycle and pedestrian friendly.

Read more on Streetsblog Denver here.

Image: Traffic on Quebec Street. Courtesy: Streetsblog