Plan to limit lanes on East Alameda Avenue in Denver triggers opposition: "It is not going to help"

A plan to cut down on the number of through lanes on East Alameda near Denver's Washington Park neighborhood is receiving a chilly reception from some residents and business owners.

The plan from Denver's Department of Transportation and Infrastructure calls for reducing the speed limit between Logan Street and Franklin Street from 30 to 25 mph, reducing the number of travel lanes from four to two, and establishing dedicated left-turn lanes in the newly configured corridor.

"It is not going to help," said Garrett Ladd, who co-owns the Blackbird Public House restaurant at the corner of Alameda and Downing Streets.

"I think it could be a bad move to go to less lanes," he said, suggesting the city plan will create more backups and congestion on Alameda and steer business away from his restaurant. "As a restaurant, I can't really rely on just the people who live next door. We have to have people able to come here. If it takes them too long  to get here, they will find other places, and I will lose more business."

Other opponents of the plan are upset that restricting travel on Alameda, which carries about 15,000 vehicles per day through the affected stretch, will send motorists onto quiet side streets seeking faster ways to get through the area. The city concedes its plan will likely send about 10% of Alameda commuters onto area side streets. 

But Nancy Kuhn, a spokesperson for Denver's Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, called the diversion rate "not significant."

Kuhn said the East Alameda Lane Repurposing project is being pursued in the name of safety and decreasing accidents on Alameda. "It's a major focus of ours in the city to get people to slow down," said Kuhn. "We know that what we proposed now are proven counter-measures to the crashes and the issues we're seeing on the corridor, and the goal is to make it safer for all."

Kuhn pointed to city accident numbers that showed between 2017 and 2019, there were 127 accidents on the stretch of Alameda. But from 2022 to 2024, there were 169 crashes.

"We hope to make it more efficient and safer," she said.

Opponents of the changes have begun a website, actforalameda.com, which includes a letter to Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, asking him to reconsider the proposed changes.

Although the changes to the Alameda arterial were supposed to have been implemented by September, Kuhn said the city is pausing the plan so it can listen more to residents and address their concerns.

For Ladd, further conversation with the city about reducing the number of lanes seems unlikely to sway him: "How is it going to help? I don't see it being any safer."