Denver Cancels Road Expansions...for Climate

The Denver region could see a significant funding shift away from road expansions and toward public transit, pedestrian, and bicycle infrastructure, due to a state mandate to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, CPR News reports.

The board of the Denver Regional Council of Governments, a planning agency governed by local elected officials, will vote on a long-term agenda-setting plan next month that’s been overhauled to comply with the mandate to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector. That’s now Colorado’s largest single source of climate-warming gasses, CPR News says. 

The new plan would ax planned expansions of Interstate 25 and C-470 and cut or minimize similar widenings on smaller roads across the region. It would also move $900 million away from road expansions to fund climate-friendly transportation projects, including projects that would overhaul busy streets to help public buses move faster. That represents about a 10 percent shift in the plan’s overall budget, said Ron Papsdorf, DRCOG’s director of transportation planning and operations.

Read the entire story.

Source: CPR News