A cyclist crosses Alameda Avenue. Oct. 23, 2025.
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
After months of criticism about changes to a safety project on Alameda Avenue, Denver transportation officials took another U-turn.
The city once again plans to fully eliminate a traffic lane, at least temporarily, from a stretch of the busy road. It’s a return to the original design for the project — which was already supposed to be months into construction.
The Alameda project has proved highly controversial. Just before construction was to begin last year, a group of residents successfully lobbied to stop the original design, saying they were concerned about the loss of a traffic lane. But other residents saw that first change as a betrayal that would do little to improve safety.
Now, the city has agreed to at least try the original design — a victory for people who want a skinnier road with less room for automobiles.
But some City Council members remain skeptical, especially since the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure didn’t bring specific details about what it hopes to achieve from the temporary demonstration.
The demonstration will test the full ‘road diet’ on a shorter stretch.
DOTI will build out the original design that was identified back in 2024. Along with other changes, DOTI will narrow the road from four lanes of traffic to three: two directional lanes and a turn lane.
Supportive neighbors said that the original plan would both slow vehicles and bring traffic away from narrow sidewalks.
The full project would reconstruct a one-mile stretch of Alameda between Franklin Street and Lincoln Street. But the demonstration DOTI envisions would only build out a fraction of that project, between Emerson and Franklin streets, subject to change.
“It’s just because it’s more resource heavy to do the full extent,” said Molly Lanphier, a community liaison with DOTI. “And again, that’s a conversation we can certainly have.”
The demonstration is set to begin in summer and end early in 2027, but the city council would need to approve funding first. DOTI has not determined how much it would cost, nor has it solicited requests for proposals from potential contractors.
Once approved, a contractor will repaint Alameda, using a type of paint that can easily be removed or changed, allowing DOTI to be “a little more nimble than we normally would be”, according to Lanphier.
As things stand, DOTI will only test the original design, known as a full lane repurposing.
The city will not test the second design — a partial lane repurposing — that it announced late last year. In that design, instead of fully eliminating a lane, the agency planned to convert one of the westbound travel lanes into a series of “turn pockets” from Franklin to Pearl streets. The road would keep three directional lanes instead of two.
Residents and transportation advocates pushed back heavily against the watered-down partial lane repurposing, arguing it sacrificed road safety in favor of catering to automobiles and is counterintuitive to Vision Zero. DOTI’s Executive Director, Amy Ford, has continually defended the partial design, even saying it is safer than the original design.
DOTI will also continue to move forward on several permanent safety improvements along Alameda that would be built under either plan, including pedestrian crossing improvements, reduced speed limits and more.
Findings from the pilot program will be ‘applied to a final design.’
Data collected from the pilot will measure “speeds, volumes, queuing, diversion, crashes, and comfort,” among other factors.
The department will specifically track whether the project sends more traffic to nearby streets, a frequent concern for critics of the design. Department leaders previously said the full road diet would send too much traffic to side streets, particularly Virginia Avenue.
But DOTI has yet to outline its benchmarks for success, much to some council members’ disappointment.
DOTI plans to meet this week with a working group including community members on both sides of the Alameda debate. Invited parties include the West Washington Park Neighborhood Association, members of DOTI’s citizen advisory board, and the Morey Hill Homeowners Association, which hired a lobbyist to object to the full road diet.
Lanphier said the working group will help determine DOTI’s metrics for success.
But some council members said the makeup of the working group isn’t representative of the project stakeholders. They objected to the inclusion of the Morey Hill Homeowners Association, which isn’t within the project boundaries.
“Why not have Athmar Park be out there? Why not have Baker have a representation? Why not have [the Lincoln Broadway Corridor RNO] have a representative?” said District 7 Councilmember Flor Alvidrez.
Lanphier said the Morey Hill group represents the “other side” of the Alameda debate. The group includes Jill Anschutz, a member of the influential Anschutz family, and several other neighbors. The group warned of the full road diet’s potential for “substantial and lasting negative impacts on traffic safety, neighborhood livability, and the vitality of local businesses” and its impact to traffic.
“I do feel like in order to have a productive conversation, we have to have both sides at the table,” Lanphier said.
Councilmember Shontel Lewis, who chairs City Council’s transportation committee, said the lack of concrete details makes her uneasy.
“We don’t know what we’re procuring,” she said. “We don’t have a design beyond paint. We don’t know where we’re measuring or who we’re measuring. We don’t have any success metrics that have been defined or provided to any of us on this council. We are not testing both options as we asked for at the last presentation. So I’m not really sure what we’re doing here.”
After the pilot, the department will choose between the two designs for a permanent installation.