Karlyn from Denver writes, “What’s driving you crazy? Why can’t the city put in a traffic light at Yale and Yale Circle next to the Yale Station senior apartment building? The city just tore up the road and that would have been the perfect time to put one in. Kids always try to run across Yale there and one of them is going to get killed. And the RTD buses can’t get across. They wait and wait especially in the afternoons for a gap to get to the light rail station. Will the city put a traffic light there?”
The short answer Karlyn is yes, the city is going to put a traffic light there, but it will take a while to see it put up and turned on. The city has been looking at the increasing amount of traffic on Yale between I-25 and Colorado Blvd and planners recognized a safety issue there at the Yale transit station. Denver Public Works tells me they will be building a new traffic signal at the intersection of Yale and Yale Circle West just west of I-25.
Not only is that intersection tough for the RTD drivers to make a left turn off eastbound Yale into the light rail transit station but it is dangerous for people crossing the street. The city says one of the major safety issues has been pedestrians crossing the street without the aid of a light to stop traffic. As part of the traffic light addition, the city will also construct a pedestrian refuge median to help people cross the intersection safely.
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The city is paying for the work through the City’s Elevate Denver Bond Program. It is the 10-year, $937M general obligation bond voters approved in 2017 to enhance the City and County of Denver by providing critical citywide improvements to the infrastructure.
Currently, Public Works is in the design process, which is expected to be complete by June. They anticipate construction will begin on the new light and pedestrian crossing in 2020.
Denver7 traffic anchor Jayson Luber says he has been covering Denver-metro traffic since Ben-Hur was driving a chariot. (We believe the actual number is over 20 years.) He's obsessed with letting viewers know what's happening on their drive and the best way to avoid the problems that spring up. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram or listen to his Driving You Crazy podcast on iTunes , Stitcher , Google Play , Podbean or YouTube .
