East Colfax bus line navigates pushback

The goal is to open the rapid transit by 2022.

Denver city officials this week unveiled new projections for the proposed East Colfax bus rapid transit line that show it could attract even more ridership than expected — if the city is able to lock down funding for it.

But planners still are navigating some pushback against the loss of capacity for cars and trucks on the busy four-lane thoroughfare. That was evident this week at the first public meeting in Denver in nearly 18 months; a second one was held in Aurora.

The new projections didn’t necessarily help.

The city figures that dedicated rush-hour lanes for buses and right turns in central Denver would decrease automobile capacity by 35 percent. Congestion would increase in the remaining lane and divert many drivers to nearby streets, especially 13th and 14th avenues.

Despite that, officials say, the new bus line would increase the corridor’s potential capacity for transporting people in 2035, via both bus and car, by nearly 26 percent, after shifting more people to transit. Buses could carry up to 50,000 riders a day, up from 22,000 who ride buses on Colfax Avenue now.

Projections say that capacity would roughly meet the growth in travel demand along the 10-mile stretch to be served by the new streetcar-like bus line. It would serve 20 stations between downtown’s Auraria campus and the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, supplanting much of RTD’s 15L bus route.

Given funding hurdles, the rough goal is to open the line by 2022.

But even among several attendees at the Knights of Columbus hall Wednesday who like the idea of the supercharged bus line, the stark change spurs worries.

“What’s going to be done to make sure that the (traffic) spillover doesn’t cause these neighborhoods to become a disaster?” said Scott May, who was among those who also lobbied for a station in between Josephine Street and Colorado Boulevard to give residents better access. “Show us some love — if we’re going to be affected, give us something back.”

Associate city planner Ryan Billings told him that need would get a look. He also said the city will explore ways to improve traffic flow and safety on surrounding streets.

Transit advocates at the meeting were enthused by the plans: Buses would run every five minutes during rush hour, and projections show riders would save 10 minutes from end to end.

That’s because they would buy tickets at sidewalk machines before boarding the buses at roughly curb level at stations, speeding up the process. The buses would get priority at lights and travel in the outside lanes reserved for buses and right turns during peak periods between Broadway and Syracuse Street, the busiest part of the corridor.

The project’s cost — an estimated $125 million to $135 million — is mostly unfunded, with city officials working with Aurora and the Regional Transportation District on applying for federal funding and finding other sources.

Denver’s city budget this year includes $1 million to begin engineering.