DENVER – As Denver International Airport searches for solutions to alleviate congestion and crashes on Peña Boulevard, the main road leading to the airport, several nonprofits including The Denver Streets Partnership, an organization that advocates for cyclist and pedestrian friendly roadways, wants the airport to consider adding more public transit options.
“The more lanes there are, the more dangerous people drive — and so the more crashes that occur. It's a lot less safe,” said Adrienne Razavi, Denver Streets Partnership organizing director.
“And what's even worse is that that congestion is basically air pollution, and that's going to be in the neighborhoods that have been historically really underserved by the city of Denver — you know — Montbello, Green Valley Ranch. Folks who live in that area do not need more air pollution," she added.
Denver7 Traffic
Potential solutions to Peña Boulevard's traffic jams hit roadblock
Razavi said her organization and other nonprofits think DIA should increase public transit options and also consider tolling on existing lanes.
“We are a part of a larger coalition. Greater Denver Transit has done some excellent work advocating for this as well on the technical level. We are, first and foremost, against highway widening, because research has shown that it is just not the right idea, especially for the climate goals. The city has equity goals, so we don't want widening," said Razavi. "But we can't just say 'no widening' when clearly there's going to be a lot of growth out there. We think that transit has real viability there. There's a lot of improvements they can make."
She said focusing on the A Line could be an option. "Adding cars, adding a double deck to the train, but also adding busses. There are some very great busses that go from different areas to the airport, and those would cost a lot less to increase frequency — but also we could extend airport coverage from places like Broomfield, Aurora, etc.," she said. "We just did, in fact, these RTD town halls that we've been hosting over the last few months — we've gone to different communities, as far as Parker, as far as Lakewood to see what people want from transit and almost every time people have mentioned that they would like better access to the airport.”
Denver7 previous coverage:
- Potential solutions to Peña Boulevard's traffic jams hit roadblock
- Future of a congested Peña Boulevard up for discussion
- FAA “will not fund any portion” of widening to reduce jams on DIA’s Peña Blvd
- Denver City Council approves $15 million study to review traffic reduction options for Peña Boulevard
- DIA is planning to make Peña Boulevard safer and less congested
- DIA seeks public input on Peña Boulevard upgrades
Peña Boulevard was built more than 30 years ago but now sees 139,000 vehicles daily, an 80% increase since opening, which has led to congestion and safety concerns.
Razavi said the airport has done very little to study public transit as a way to address those concerns.
“So this kind of the phrase, ‘if you build it, they will come’ — It's the same for both solutions. You widen the highway — more people will drive. You build more transit, more people will take transit," said Razavi. "I think it's something that people really want across the region... It would be difficult, a little more difficult to study that particular alternative because the airport would have to work with Denver, RTD and the Federal Aviation Administration — but it could be done."
In November, DIA published a survey to allow community member to share their thoughts on how to improve Peña Boulevard. The last day to fill out the survey is December 31st.
