Colorado Downtown Streets
BACKGROUND
In 2015, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) instituted a collaboration with the Department of Transportation (CDOT) and the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) to facilitate policy and environmental change to promote safe, equitable access to walking in local communities. The
collaborative team participated in the 2015 National Association of Chronic Disease Directors’ Walkability Institute with the goal to improve the way state agencies work together to advance multi-modal transportation in urban and rural areas of Colorado. As a result, the team developed the Colorado Downtown Streets suite of resources for local communities to design, build and improve state highways that also serve as multimodal main streets to increase walkability.

PURPOSE
Attending the Walkability Institute helped Colorado build and advance strategic institutional relationships at the intersection of health and active transportation. Through the development of the Colorado Downtown Streets resources and corresponding workshops, Colorado has increased the capacity of local communities to understand the connection between infrastructure improvements for active transportation and non-health factors such as social cohesion, safety, economic vitality, and climate by illustrating how street design, physical health and economic development are connected.

DESCRIPTION
Savvy local leaders understand that a vibrant downtown is essential to a strong local economy and that
great streets are essential to a walkable, successful downtown. In this session participants will learn how
Colorado is helping local communities to better understand and communicate the connections between
street design, physical health and economic development; how to diagnose barriers and identify appropriate design solutions for creating safe multimodal main streets as well as best practices for collaborating with the Colorado Department of Transportation. Colorado will share lessons learned from a
series of ten workshops designed activate the concepts in the Colorado Downtown Streets guides. Colorado will also share lessons learned from four communities who implemented low-cost enhancements to the main street walking environments including wayfinding signs, benches and shade trees.

CONCLUSIONS
Colorado encourages communities to pass policies and prioritize infrastructure improvements to promote
active living and accessible street design with features conducive for safe physical activity. The Colorado
Downtown Streets resources have helped the state take bold steps towards revolutionizing Colorado’s approach to designing state highways that also serve as multimodal main streets.

NEXT STEPS
Colorado will continue to build on state agency collaboration and work to include health metrics in the
Statewide Transportation Plan and include transportation in the State Health Improvement Plan.

Presenter: Cate Townley
Agency Affiliation: Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

Presenter Biographical Statement: [biography]