At the event, Cave introduced her co-hosts and facilitated conversation with DOT officials. Her goal was simple: to help others “witness my experience being a pedestrian in the roughest parts of Denver.”
Cave said wheeling down the road so close to oncoming traffic “was a little terrifying…[but] I do experience that on a daily basis.” Being with the group “amplified the experience,” she added, because it helped others to see what things they’d normally miss from the car window.
“Going from A to B is not as simple as looking at the bus routes and the times,” she explained. “It’s going on Google Street View and looking at the crosswalks, looking at the sidewalks, looking at entrances in the buildings, looking at bus stops – and making sure that I can verify that they’re actually going to work for me.”
Sometimes, even those exhaustive efforts fail her, forcing Cave to adapt on the fly. She jokingly calls herself a “logistics expert,” because of all of the planning involved in getting where she needs to go.
Denver transportation leaders are taking some steps to improve conditions for walkers. In 2018, a citywide plan called “Denver Moves: Pedestrians and Trails,” offered a blueprint for improving crossings, sidewalks, and trails throughout the city. And the Elevate Denver Bond, includes $47M in funding to help fix sidewalk gaps – including for sidewalks along Sheridan Blvd from I-70 up to 52nd Avenue, where the Feb. 9 walk occurred.
A 2021
RISE bond offers another $12M to construct missing sidewalks and $42M for safety and mobility improvements, according to the department. Additionally, the department hiked parking rates from $1 to $2, and the additional revenue will go towards implementing a Vision Zero Action Plan to build more bike lanes, fill sidewalk gaps, and make intersections and pedestrian crossings safer.
Those efforts will help, but keeping all those new walkways in good working order will be a challenge. Cave says there are inconsistencies in who is responsible for sidewalk maintenance under Denver law, and that she thinks placing ownership in the hands of the city would be the best solution, “because they are public spaces.”
She also thinks DOT leaders should make walking Denver roads a regular practice — and Stalls agrees. He says the experience of “being in a hostile environment” should be at the forefront of the minds of city planners as they plan initiatives, too, rather than “an afterthought.”
“We don’t need a fucking study,” Stalls said. “People are dying.”
