Reader: Denver Is Hell-Bent on Destroying the Aesthetics of Our Neighborhoods

On November 4, the Denver Department of Transportation & Infrastructure began installing five traffic circles in order to create a new neighborhood bikeway along East Dakota Avenue that connects Broadway and South Marion Street. Roundabouts “create a slower and safer experience for everyone using the corridor” when they’re coupled with other traffic calming measures, says DOTI, which had just finished installing traffic circles for a bikeway along Emerson Street in Capitol Hill on November 3.

Residents of West Washington Park aren’t happy with the roundabouts, though, and want DOTI to hit the brakes.“We’re fighting back for this little corner of the world, because it’s completely ridiculous,” says Eric Devansky, a Wash Park West resident for eight years. “We just want to press pause on this.”

In their comments on the Westword Facebook post of Bennito L. Kelty’s story about the Wash Park West project, readers go round and round about traffic circles. Says Tom:

There are sooooooo many traffic circles in Denver. Never seen so many in my life.

Offers Harry:

As a Wash Park resident, I was pleased to see your article on roundabouts.  Many of these have been placed at low-volume intersections where they weren’t needed.  Several intersections are too small, especially when making a left-hand turn, and they’re definitely too small for emergency vehicles. Others, however, seem appropriately placed and reduce speed. Overall, the roundabouts are overkill for a number of intersections, while other problematic intersections are ignored.  Similarly, requests to the city for a safe crosswalk across Downing and Ohio, which has heavy pedestrian traffic, was ignored.  Going forward, planning that incorporates more input from the neighborhood would make for wider acceptance of projects that affect the community and the use of resources. 

Suggests Adam:

I actually don’t think we need to have costly “public meetings” for every single traffic safety project.

Notes Joshua:

The only person who doesn’t love a traffic circle or a roundabout are people who don’t know how to drive. If you don’t understand how to properly use a roundabout, you probably shouldn’t have your driver’s license. And that means every employee at Westword, but for real.

Counters Chris:

I’d bet money you don’t live in Wash Park or Cap Hill. These definitely don’t speed up traffic. The streets are too narrow, and trash and delivery trucks can’t even get around them. They have to drive OVER them! These aren’t even real traffic circles. Real traffic circles have two lanes around them.

Adds Rob:

People commenting from the suburbs can sit this one out: We’re not talkin’ about the nice, big, gentle roundabouts you have out there. These ten-foot circles are jammed into intersections that were designed before the advent of cars. While they do improve safety in some places, they don’t in these old neighborhoods. These intersections have blind approaches, because there are buildings right up to the corners. The turns are so tight, you can easily hit the 140-year-old curbs (car damage), which there were no improvements to. It’s very dangerous for pedestrians crossing. Cars can’t see them and swing out into the crosswalk as they go around the circle. It’s a piss-poor idea for the old streets of the inner city.

Offers JT:

Bicycling is my primary form of transportation and I actually really dislike these circles and find them dangerous. Most people in cars just speed through these like nothing and don’t even bother signaling. And then there’s hardly any room for large trucks, so I find myself being stuck behind them in their blind spot. I have more near-misses at traffic circles than I have ever had at just a regular stop-sign intersection. It’s also annoying that the bicycle community lobbied for years for stop-as-yield laws, only for the city to add these terrible traffic circles everywhere — which make these intersections less safe for the bicyclists they are designed to help.

Says Bryant:

I have lived in Wash Park West since 2019 and have received multiple surveys from the city per year about traffic calming, bike infrastructure and specifically traffic circles. Myself and most of my neighbors are strongly in favor, because reckless drivers regularly endanger children playing in their front yards and pedestrians/cyclists in the neighborhood.

There is no shortage of documentation available for any resident to easily learn about planned calming corridors, and a significant number of us specifically asked for the increased rollout of these in our neighborhood. Publishing that this is some in-the-dark campaign is absolutely ludicrous, and the vast majority of the voices on your article are opposed to traffic calming for “aesthetics” and “free parking.” These are classic NIMBY talking points that have allowed a loud minority to dictate the safety of the streets I walk and bike on and my neighbors children play in and use to get to and from school. I find this article in bad faith at best and counter to Denver’s recent stellar progress in increasing road safety for all users.

Concludes Rob:

The Denver government is hell-bent on destroying the aesthetics of all of our neighborhoods.

What do you think of traffic circles? About the roundabouts being built in Denver? Post a comment or share your thoughts at editorial@westword.com.