On August 10, a Denverite photographer caught drivers on a newly reshaped stretch of Alameda Avenue near Downing Street. Four lanes had become two through lanes and a turn lane, separated by flexible posts. Denverite described the change as a test running through the rest of the year along about a mile of the corridor. On October 13, Denver7 reported that Denver's Department of Transportation and Infrastructure considers the installation complete.
"Complete" here means set up for a test. It does not mean the street is finished. The city calls the layout a temporary safety demonstration. Parts of what you drive, cross and park along on Alameda this fall are permanent. Other parts will stay only if they hold up when DOTI evaluates them, and the city's schedule puts that review in 2027.
Two Lists on One Street
The new Alameda looks like one design, but DOTI's project page splits it into two groups. One group is permanent safety work installed alongside the test. The other is the test itself, and the city describes those features as "subject to change."
| Staying, per DOTI | Part of the demonstration |
|---|---|
| Rapid flashing beacon, crosswalk and refuge island at Franklin and Alameda | Designated left-turn lanes |
| Speed limit cut from 30 mph to 25 mph, Broadway to University | Flex-post pedestrian refuge islands |
| New left-turn signals | Pedestrian buffer between the travel lane and the sidewalk |
| Signal timing, high-visibility signals and bulb-outs at Virginia and Downing | Mid-block on-street parking |
| Updated school zone signage from Broadway to Logan | |
| New and refreshed marked crosswalks, plus green bike crossing markings |
The speed limit is the change most drivers will feel every day. It drops 5 mph across a stretch longer than the demonstration zone, and it is on the permanent list. The parts people tend to argue about are the lane count and the turn pockets, and those are the parts the evaluation will decide.
A few other details from DOTI's FAQ cover common questions. The city says a bike lane "is not, nor has ever been planned for this part of Alameda." Parking stays mostly the same, with two exceptions. Pearl Street gets more spaces. The improved bike crossings at Washington and Emerson remove one or two spaces right at those corners to open up sight lines.
How the Street Got Here
The current layout is the second time the plan has reversed in about ten months. Knowing the order of events explains why the city is testing at all.
- Late 2025. Westword reported that DOTI had spent five years planning to take a one-mile stretch of East Alameda, between South Franklin and South Logan, from four lanes to one in each direction with a center turn lane. Construction was planned to start in November 2026. Then DOTI scaled the plan back to keep both eastbound lanes and turn one westbound lane into a turn lane. DOTI spokesperson Nancy Kuhn said the revision would "reduce the risk of congestion, cut-through traffic on nearby side streets." Wash Park West residents protested and delivered a petition to City Hall asking for the original design. Westword reported that the petition had about 1,000 signatures.
- February 18, 2026. Denverite reported that DOTI told City Council it would test the original full lane reduction and would not test the scaled-back version. The outlet called it the city's "another U-turn."
- February 19. A working group that included Alameda businesses such as Blackbird Public House and Neon Cowboy reviewed a test running only from Emerson to Franklin. According to DOTI's meeting summary, members raised concerns about merge points, signal timing, effects on neighborhood streets, and whether the test should cover the full project length.
- Spring. Denverite reported in April that DOTI agreed to extend the test across the full corridor. The outlet quoted a March 25 email from DOTI community liaison Molly Lanphier saying the department agreed the full corridor was an appropriate scope for the pilot. A public meeting on April 16 laid out one through lane in each direction and summer construction.
- August through October 13. The new layout went in during August, and DOTI announced the installation complete in mid-October.
The street that went in is close to the 2025 plan the city had stepped back from, now installed as a trial that has to hold up under evaluation. The planned November 2026 construction start mentioned in the late-2025 coverage no longer matches DOTI's current schedule.
What the Test Is Supposed to Prove
DOTI ties the design to a specific crash pattern. The city says Alameda has more crashes than similar Denver corridors, especially rear-end, sideswipe and turning crashes. It says a main cause is drivers stopping in a through lane to turn left. The dedicated turn lane moves those drivers out of through traffic, and DOTI says its analysis shows that could cut crashes in the project area by up to 25%.
The main worry about the narrower Alameda is cut-through traffic on side streets such as East Virginia and East Bayaud. DOTI's analysis projects that no more than 5% of vehicles will reroute over a full day. The city also expects some drivers to move to Virginia and Downing, which is why that intersection got permanent upgrades, including "no right turn on red" and protected left turns.
Both numbers are projections. The test exists to check them against real traffic. DOTI lists three ways it will measure the corridor:
- Crash data for the corridor
- Speed and volume observations by a third-party firm
- A community survey on how safe people feel and on any unintended effects
The city judges the results against three goals: everyone arriving safely, limiting effects on the neighborhood and businesses, and more comfortable options for getting around. Businesses get their own question. DOTI says the survey will ask businesses to identify themselves so the city can spot unintended effects on access.
Why This Winter Matters
DOTI says it will let traffic settle before formal evaluation begins. Its project page says some evaluation pieces start three months after the demonstration went in. The city's published schedule lists data assessment and community surveys for spring 2027 and a review of recommendations and next steps for summer 2027. Denver7's October report also places the formal data collection and the survey in spring 2027.
The calendar matters for one more reason. DOTI says it will not evaluate during the summer, because school schedules shape traffic and the city and community agree summer counts would be misleading. So the counts that decide this street's future come from school-year months like the ones starting now, with morning drop-offs, winter weather and holiday traffic.
The test layout can still change before then. DOTI says it watches safety and operations throughout and may adjust, or remove parts of the demonstration early if they create unacceptable safety problems. If the evaluation supports keeping the design, the city says it would make the layout permanent with the same paint it uses on other striping projects across Denver, and the flexible posts would stay.
As of mid-October, the project page has no open survey link. For questions or comments before the formal survey, DOTI lists [email protected] and a signup for project updates on the same page.
Streets around Washington Park change slowly, and Alameda is set to change in stages through summer 2027. If you'd like to talk through how corridor projects like this one show up in day-to-day life near the park, The Solera Group is glad to share what we're seeing on the ground. Contact Us anytime.
