When it comes to transportation engineering, Otak believes in the power of multimodal transportation as an essential design lens. In our view, roads are not only for cars – pedestrian overpasses, bike lanes, and the surrounding landscape all serve to make transportation infrastructure more robust, inclusive, and perhaps most importantly, sustainable for all to use no matter how you’re getting from point A to point B.

 

Attending events in this space enables us to use this philosophy as a differentiator, where we can not only share our values and approach, but we can also build relationships with the communities we work in. The result is transportation projects using a more involved and community-driven design method that serves the needs of the neighborhood.

It’s this emphasis on community-driven design that makes conferences like the NACTO 2023 Conference in Denver, Designing Cities, so important to us.

We’re happy to report our own Kevin Dooley and Ann Nguyen served as key speakers at the NACTO 2023 conference, working to showcase projects in the region that are helping transform how cities can, or ought to be designed.

What Is NACTO? 

The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) Designing Cities conference is in its 11^th year, bringing together over 1,000 officials, planners, and practitioners to advance the state of urban transportation. By bringing city officials, planners, and transportation professionals together, real conversations can be had about how to improve everyone’s access to quality transportation infrastructure – especially while improving a city’s bike network.

This conference is an especially good way to get an idea of what issues or challenges officials from cities around the country are facing in their multi-modal design processes, as well as identify new trends in the industry like sidetracks or protected intersections.

 

Denver 2023: A Site to Showcase Progressive Transportation Networks

Right in the backyard of our Colorado locations, this is the first time NACTO has been held in Denver. The city was chosen strategically as a place to showcase some of the most progressive and quick bike network expansions in the country since becoming a major point of emphasis for local government, a trend also catching on in surrounding cities like Boulder or Fort Collins.

What’s key about this for us is that a unique focus is given to the socio-economic factors impacting transportation access, or lack thereof, in a given community. Working sessions were done with historical context in mind, meaning factors like the evolution of transportation and how it impacts different demographics of people are at the forefront of conversation.

Otak leaders also gave presentations directly surrounding this topic, so we’re about to take a deep dive on what they talked about and the ideas they shared.

Prioritizing Safety and Mobility on Major Streets: A Look at Boulder’s Core Arterial Network 

 

These working sessions at NACTO Denver, dubbed “WalkShops,” centered on literal walk-throughs of project sites throughout the city. At each location discussions were had on techniques that were used and what benefits they had to the community.

First, we’ll get into what Kevin Dooley, a Transportation Project Manager, presented on. As part of Boulder’s Core Arterial Network (CAN), more than 30 transportation planners and officials from all over the country rode through our 30th and CO Underpass project – where Kevin was on-hand to provide insight to NACTO attendees.

Improving One of the Most Dangerous Intersections in Boulder 

An essential transportation route for both the general community and University of Colorado Boulder students was in dire need of an upgrade – not just aesthetically but functionally. The intersection of 30th and Colorado represented one of the most dangerous in the city. Coordination with our teaming partners based on public feedback and outreach was critical to the design process, all in an effort to make the intersection safer for all who use it, no matter the mode of transportation.

One of the unique solutions for delivering the project was raising the intersection by about five feet to provide a pedestrian underpass. This allows for shorter underpass approach lengths while meeting ADA compliance. The project also includes more 0.5 lanes miles of raised bike lanes, or “cycle track”, and incorporates the City of Boulder first fully “protected intersection” for street cyclists.

Apart from impact on right of way for users among other benefits, the design was meant to showcase that one is not always limited by space in evaluating a site. If you’re able to think outside the box, creativity ultimately pays off when designing a functional pedestrian underpass.

 

A second design feature also delivered two separate underpasses – the decision was one that took a data and community driven approach to complete. Early findings when researching the site showed the southwest and northeast, plus southern and eastern leg movements were more congested than the other elements of the existing intersection. Modeling also showed that one diagonal underpass would allow for only around 390 users per day, far below the utilization the project needed.

The two-underpass approach captured 61% of all bike and pedestrian crossings at the intersection, with 38% of those users traveling both legs of the intersection. During planning, over 1,000 bikes or pedestrians per day were expected to use at least one of the two underpasses, and 38% of those will use both. Using data and utilization as a guiding light made this project an especially great one to showcase at NACTO this year.

Improving Denver’s Urban Core: A Community-Led Effort Around Transportation, Art, and Culture

 

Ann Nguyen, an Otak landscape architect and planner, took the lead in her Walkshop around the developing core of Denver’s urban center. Besides being an expert on our team, she’s also involved in the La Alma Lincoln Park Neighborhood Association and serves as an advisory board member for the Art District on Santa Fe, meaning her passion for Denver and its design are always top of mind.

Her Walkshop involved a compilation of projects in the La Alma and Lincoln Park neighborhoods in West Denver. Improvements to neighborhood safety and main street connections in the core of the city also focused on preserving cultural elements of the urban fabric.

Transportation Design and Planning Behind a Cultural and Art District

The projects Ann walked through focus on ‘cultural’ and ‘art’ district designations and their importance to making cities places where people love living.

As a major stakeholder on the Santa Fe Streetscape project, Ann showcased a transportation-focused way of improving safety along a main street that was recently shrunk from four lanes of traffic to three lanes to create a more pedestrian-centered environment. The project represents progress on a long-standing vision for the neighborhood, including the Art District and Business Improvement District situated along this corridor.

 

Next, she walked viewers through the 5280 Trail project, which is a loop in the urban core of Denver that connects its neighborhoods to each other. Ann led the third phase of that project through community-led design and activating areas along the proposed trail. Ann worked closely with the Art District on Santa Fe, Neighborhood Association, Denver Housing Authority, local artists, nonprofits and youth to install two murals between Denver’s first Art District and its second cultural district.

Finally, Ann walked through her work on the Santa Fe Design Overlay, a rezoning project she’s been working on independently for years. With the goal of developing a true main street, those rezoning plans were passed. This cleared the way for a design overlay on Santa Fe Drive that supports future development that’s integrated with the existing community, ensuring that it complements the existing built environment and character of place.