The grant award comes as Commuting Solutions Puts the Finishing Touches on a Regional Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Plan for the Northwest Metro Region.
The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) recently announced $600,000 in state grant funding committed toward helping Colorado communities reduce congestion and emissions to improve air quality. Commuting Solutions is one of 12 programs across the state awarded a grant.
We’re proud to have received $50,000 to go toward the development of a transportation demand management (TDM) ordinance, in partnership with local government staff from Boulder, Boulder County, Louisville, Superior, Broomfield, Westminster, Lafayette, Erie, and Longmont.
TDM supports an inclusive transportation vision for sustainable commuting and multimodal traveling options to reduce congestion and improve air quality. Commuting Solutions, a non-profit with a legacy of sustainable transportation advocacy on behalf of the northwest region’s business and civic communities, is also one of eight transportation management organizations in the Denver region and is dedicated to connecting commuters to their workplaces, businesses to their employees and residents to their communities.
Strategies Included in the Northwest Regional TDM Plan
Since 2022, Commuting Solutions has been leading an effort to develop a TDM plan and a developer toolkit for the northwest metro region that outline TDM strategies tailored for the region’s transportation, mobility, and access needs and regional goals for growth, transportation, and land use.
Commuting Solutions, its stakeholders, and its consultant have identified 11 strategies that support the roadmap through infrastructure investments, address first-and-last-mile challenges, improve job access and equity, target a specific corridor, utilize new technology, and encourage regional collaboration. Through the plan, Commuting Solutions and its stakeholders are also exploring applications for TDM strategies as they relate to climate change, public health, job access for essential workers, support for school-age children and their families, employee recruitment, transportation equity, and other non-traditional focus areas such as identifying innovative transportation options for low-income and multifamily housing Coloradans.
The final strategies, which were collaboratively developed through a series of stakeholder workshops and research, include:
- Implementing TDM programs that include bus rapid transit (BRT) service.
- Developing model TDM programs NW cities can easily incorporate.
- Exploring the feasibility of a regional bike share program.
- Providing incentives to encourage non-Single Occupancy Vehicle (SOV) travel or changing travel times during peak congestion.
- Developing and distributing an employer policy toolkit for businesses.
- Creating a northwest regional TDM coordinating council.
- Conducting ongoing travel training for essential workers.
- Developing and distributing a mobility guide.
- Conducting transportation options outreach at multifamily and low-income housing.
- Providing marketing and support to schools not currently enrolled in the Way to Go “SchoolPool” carpooling program.
- Providing subsidies and marketing support for a vanpool pilot program.
Commuting Solutions is in the process of putting the finishing touches on this plan’s final review and input. The grant funding from CDOT gives Commuting Solutions a strong start to implementing key strategies in the plan. We will continue to coordinate with partners to secure funding and identify priorities for TDM implementation over the next few years.
