Re: April 1 Vincent Carroll column.
It’s great that Denver City Council member Kendra Black is evaluating the aesthetics of the Hampden Avenue corridor in southeast Denver for improvements, but the process must consider the transportation needs of entire southeast Denver area.
This area needs to be evaluated as a whole, for it is woefully inadequate in moving east-west traffic from Denver and Aurora. This corridor includes Interstate 225 and its ridiculous narrowing up to its merge with I-25; huge, sterile Hampden Avenue; inadequate two-lane Yale Avenue; busy, slow Evans Avenue with too many stoplights; and the inconsistent path of Cherry Creek Drive.
Southeast Denver drivers and western Aurora residents attempt all of these routes in an effort to get to I-25, downtown and points west. Improvements are needed to all major arteries, including widening, straightening, stoplight-timing changes, better bike and pedestrian access, etc.
If efforts were made in all these areas so that all the streets could carry east-west traffic more efficiently, perhaps improvements to Hampden would make sense. Just having a pretty plan for Hampden that reduces traffic flow doesn’t serve the overall priorities and needs of the entire area.
L. Dahl, Denver
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