What is the University of Denver doing for their students and faculty as the traffic issue worsens?
It seems since I have moved to Denver to go to school here, the traffic has been noticeably worse. DU preaches about being a university dedicated to the public good and the wellbeing of their students, yet is not doing enough to help improve issues that directly impact the DU population.
One of these major issues is transportation needs. The American Physical Society discusses that energy-efficient electric transit and commuter rail that use electrical power generated at fossil-fuel burning plants. These modes of transportation represent a fraction of the US transportation mileage. While cars and truck’s US transportation mileage is six times the mileage.
Motorized vehicles are the primary mode of transportation in Denver that not only cause increasing traffic congestion but contributes to our depleting environment.
The lack of public transportation surrounding DU is not cost-effective, worsens traffic, and contributes to carbon emissions. The city of Denver is expanding at a steady rate and public transportation and the main roads are only going to get more congested. We need more accessible public transportation other than the light rail.
I can name multiple times I have had a professor come into class 15 minutes late due to being stuck in traffic on their commute to the university. I can personally explain the struggle of driving to campus and being in stop and go traffic on I-70, university Blvd., Colorado Blvd., and Evans Ave.
Click the here to discover more on Denver’s traffic problem:
According to the 2018 DU Sustainability Report, 71% of students and 42.2% of employees use an alternative mode to commute to the university. For DU students it is much easier to ride a bike or walk to class due to the 48% of DU students living on campus. When it comes to DU faculty the majority commute to DU driving alone.
DU advertises Denver buses and trains, but according to Christof Spieler, author of the book “Trains Buses, People: An Opinionated Atlas of U.S. Transit” describes Denver’s light rail system is focused on serving suburban-downtown trips. Along with not being accessible to all areas surrounding Denver, Local RTD passes can be up to $114 per month.
There are some options for DU students to take effective alternative modes of transportation than cars like eco passes, but there needs to be another option. The Administration of DU either needs to help support new ways to get around Denver and stop aiding the industries that make this issue worse.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in the US most of the emissions of human-caused greenhouse gases come primarily from burning fossil fuel for energy use which is heavily used for transportation means
The issue is that there is a major traffic congestion that is not only bad for the quality of life, but bad for the environment.
Colorado residents, but more specifically DU students will be impacted by this problem for years to come. I know that this issue has become increasingly worse every year I have attended DU. As someone who is graduating from DU in the coming months and plans to stay in Denver, I worry that this problem will impact my health, quality of life, and Denver’s accessibility.
Denver needs change and DU needs to support it.
DU students and faculty need to band together and vote to pass bill’s like Proposition 110 to eliminate this growing problem. More tax money needs to spend on transportation projects to put an end to lone commuters and to decrease the number of people on the roads.
There needs to be a conversation around these propositions and more support around it. DU needs to take part in investing in transportation needs and to divest the endowment from fossil fuels.
DU needs to listen to the needs of its campus and reinvest in regenerative, community-based projects that positively impact their students.
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