Peña Master Plan Frequently Asked Questions

The purpose of the Peña Boulevard Transportation and Mobility Master Plan (Peña Master Plan) is to determine the existing transportation and mobility conditions within the Peña Boulevard corridor and assist with future environmental studies as required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Peña Boulevard was originally constructed over 30 years ago and since then average daily traffic volumes have grown by 80%, crash rates have continued to rise, and periods of poor roadway performance have multiplied. Due to the age of the pavement, annual maintenance has increased, impacting traffic and there is a need for reconstruction. Passenger growth at Denver International Airport (DEN), developments along the corridor, and increased freight have all added significant demands to the corridor and will grow worse with time. Bicycle and pedestrian facilities remain unconnected, with barriers to access transit and limited multi-modal transportation options within the Peña Boulevard corridor and Gateway Area.

Through the Peña Master Plan DEN is conducting a transportation and mobility study to understand existing and future traffic demand and land-use patterns along the Peña corridor. The Peña Master Plan will provide a comprehensive blueprint for infrastructure improvements for the Peña Boulevard corridor and will include Travel Demand Management (TDM) strategies aimed to incentivize sustainable transportation to the airport.

View the full Goals and Objectives for The Peña Boulevard Transportation and Mobility Master Plan and The Denver Moves Gateway Area Travel Study linked here.

The improvements identified in the Peña Master Plan will seek to manage the demand of serving 100 million passengers within the next 8 to 10 years and ensure Peña Boulevard continues to facilitate the growth of DEN and the region in a sustainable way. Visit Vision 100 to learn more.

“Mobility” considers how people move around the area (cars, buses, trails, bicycles, by foot). The Peña Master Plan  aims to improve all elements of the transportation infrastructure to improve mobility within the study area.

DEN is the primary economic engine for the state of Colorado, generating more than of revenue for the region annually. DEN is home to more than 1,200 individual companies, 23airlines, more than 900 contractors/tenants/vendors, and 15 federal agencies. DEN provides more than 40,000 on-airport jobs and a total of 260,000 direct and indirect jobs to the region. DEN was the 3rd-busiest airport in the world in 2022.

On a regional level, both Northeast Denver and Aurora are experiencing unprecedented growth. From the 2018 opening of the Gaylord Rockies Resort and Convention Center to the millions of square feet of industrial projects to plans for 20,000 more residential units, the area is undergoing rapid growth. The Peña Master Plan will seek to manage these demands and ensure Peña Boulevard continues to facilitate the growth of DEN and the region in a sustainable way.

The Peña Master Plan aims to increase transportation choices for surrounding communities and employees by building multi-use trails for cyclists, expanding essential services and providing first mile/last mile connections to transit to reduce auto dependency in historically disadvantaged communities. While developing the Peña Master Plan DEN will work with the City and County of Denver’s Community Planning and Development (CPD) and Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) teams to identify and construct multiuse paths and bikeways to Regional Transportation District (RTD transit stations and within the Far Northeast neighborhood.

As Peña Boulevard has reached its capacity, there is an increase of traffic using local roads (or streets) such as Tower Road and 56th Avenue, causing increased congestion and safety concerns in communities that are not designed to handle that level of traffic.  Improvements to the corridor are needed to relieve congestion, improve air quality, and enhance quality of life in the communities surrounding Peña Boulevard.

In addition, the Peña Master Plan will aim to increase transportation choices for surrounding communities, DEN passengers and employees by building multi-use trails, expanding essential services, and providing first mile/last mile strategies to reduce auto dependency.

DEN funded the Peña Master Plan with support from DOTI for the Denver Moves Gateway Area Travel Study portion.

DEN is pursuing grant opportunities to comply with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requirement that prohibits the use of airport revenue for non-aeronautical use.

Based on a recent traffic study along Peña Boulevard, it was determined that 73% of traffic is airport-based, while 27% is non-airport traffic. Due to the split of airport/non-airport traffic on Peña Boulevard, the FAA requires that, for the segment of Peña Boulevard west of E-470 to I-70, DEN may only fund maintenance, capital improvement costs, and future debt service on a pro rata basis.

DEN will continue to pursue grant opportunities to compensate for the non-airport split of traffic on Peña Boulevard. If DEN is not successful with its grant pursuits, DOTI will have to fund these non-airport portions.

Construction funding has not been determined at this time. The City will pursue grants and alternate funding for the non-airport percentage (the area used by the community for non-airport activities) to meet FAA requirements (see previous answer).

DEN, which is operated by Denver’s Department of Aviation, is established and governed by the City and County of Denver Municipal Charter. The Department of Aviation is an enterprise as defined by the Colorado Constitution. As an enterprise, the airport does not use any taxpayer dollars for its operation. Accordingly, DEN has its own CIP. DEN’s Capital Improvement dollars must be used to fund airport-based projects and are audited by the FAA.

The final Peña Master Plan is anticipated to be completed in   early 2024.

Once Peña Master Plan is finalized, an environmental review process would commence in 2024. Upon completion and approval of the environmental review process, design for the preferred alternative would commence.

Design will start upon completion and approval of the environmental review process.

Construction would begin no earlier than 2027. DEN may seek opportunities to fund and implement TDM strategies or other multi-modal improvements in advance. (For a description of TDM see Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) website.)

The Peña Master Plan is anticipated to be completed in early 2024. Following completion, an environmental review process would begin in 2024.

The Peña Master Plan is following Planning and Environmental Linkages (PEL) principles to ensure a collaborative and integrated approach to transportation decision-making that 1) considers environmental, community and economic goals early in the transportation planning process, and 2) uses the information, analysis and products developed during planning to inform the environmental review process.

Outside of the Peña Master Plan, DEN is conducting a Corridor Condition Assessment Study of Peña Boulevard. DEN is studying guardrails, signage, slopes, etc. DEN is also reviewing crash data and looking at patterns/high incident areas to identify other solutions. Typically, safety improvements can be done separately from the lengthier Environmental Impact Statement process by pursuing a separate National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) clearance.

DEN is faced with the challenge of increased congestion on Peña Boulevard and a limited ability to improve the highway capacity due to construction costs, and environmental and societal impacts. As part of the Peña Master Plan, DEN is exploring a range of cross-sectional improvements to Peña Boulevard to reflect feedback received from the first round of public and stakeholder engagement in early 2023, and recommendations from previous studies. These alternatives will undergo two levels of screening, firstly against the Peña Master Plan  purpose and need, and secondly against the goals and objectives, before arriving at a consolidated list of recommended alternatives that will be taken forward into environmental studies and detailed design. Stakeholder and public input will be considered throughout this screening and refinement process and additional options can be considered.

As part of the analysis, DEN is exploring a range of cross-sectional improvements to Peña Boulevard. A decision on a recommended improvement has not been made. All options considered will be communicated at public meetings for comment and input.

The Federal Highways Administration (FHWA) defines “Managed lanes” as highway facilities or a set of lanes where operational strategies are proactively implemented and managed in response to changing conditions. Examples of operating managed lane projects include high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, value-priced lanes, high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes, or exclusive or special use lanes.

Managed lanes on Peña Boulevard will accommodate transit and other forms of high occupancy vehicles which will enhance transit travel time reliability and create opportunities for more efficient transit services on Peña Boulevard. Roadway congestion is managed by incentivizing public transit (bus) and HOV to use the lanes for free. High-occupancy vehicles can include many forms, including carpooling, vanpooling, charter buses, hotel shuttles, mountain carriers, and shared-ride services.

It is a goal of DEN to ensure Peña Boulevard continues to facilitate the growth ofthe airport while reasonably accommodating surrounding non-airport developments. The Peña Master Plan  includes microsimulation traffic modeling that will examine how projected increases in truck volumes will affect traffic flow on Peña Boulevard. As part of the analysis, DEN will explore options that move local and/or slower-moving traffic off Peña Boulevard mainline including frontage roads and collector-distributer roads. These are part of a suite of options being explored as part of the Peña Master Plan.

The Peña Master Plan  will seek to manage both the airport and local demands and ensure Peña Boulevard continues to facilitate the growth of DEN and the region in a sustainable way. Some of the  options being explored include separating airport and local traffic.

DEN is working with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) to better understand the connection between I-70, I-225 and Peña Boulevard. CDOT is part of the Stakeholder Working Group (SWG) and will be consulted throughout the Peña Master Plan.

Understanding how to improve transit service and increase transit usage to manage travel demand is a goal of the Peña Master Plan. The Peña Master Plan will include a TDM plan, with implementable strategies and plans on how DEN can increase its share of public transit ridership (including RTD A-Line and bus services).

The TDM plan will include strategies and plans on how DEN can increase its share of public transit ridership (including RTD A-Line and bus services). In addition, DEN is currently working with RTD to better synchronize transit schedules with employee shifts.  See additional information in the TDM answers below.

DEN is currently working with RTD to better synchronize transit schedules with employee shifts and reduce costs to employees to reduce barriers to opportunities.

In particular, DEN has been working with RTD to develop a Concessionaire’s master contract to ensure all employers at DEN have access to the cheapest-priced EcoPasses. Under the current pricing without the mini contract, the pricing per person varies by size of employer; the most costly is for companies under 25 employees. DEN wants to encourage all employers at the airport to provide their employees with an EcoPass.

In response to feedback from customers that fares are expensive and difficult to understand, RTD launched a Systemwide Fare Study and Equity Analysis. In summer 2023 RTD Board of Directors approved a new fare structure that is more equitable, affordable and simple and will take affect in 2024. The new fare structure approved reduces airport fares from $10.50 to $10.00 and reduces monthly passes to the airport from $200 to $88. DEN hopes that this will further encourage both passengers and employees to utilize RTD services to access the airport.

Why doesn’t DEN encourage more people to take the A-Line? 

Improved transit service and increased transit usage to manage travel demand is a goal of the Peña Master Plan with a specific objective to develop programs and incentives to promote increased ridership on the RTD A-Line for passengers and employees. DEN recognizes that only a portion of its employees and passengers live within reasonable commuting distance of the RTD A-Line. Therefore, the TDM plan sets out to maximize traveler mode choices and reduce congestion on Peña Boulevard. Specifically, the TDM plan will provide implementable strategies and plans on how DEN can increase its share of public transit ridership (including RTD A-Line and bus services), support employee vanpools/carpools, incentivize sustainable transportation and encourage HOVs.

The use of airport revenue for purposes other than airport capital or operating costs is generally considered “revenue diversion” and is prohibited by federal law.

DEN is developing the Peña Master Plan to understand what transportation infrastructure improvements and mobility solutions are needed to manage the existing and future demands for Peña Boulevard. As part of the Peña Master Plan t, DEN is exploring both infrastructure improvements to the Peña Boulevard corridor, and program and policy changes at DEN to encourage passengers and employees to use more sustainable modes of transportation to access the airport.

The Peña Master Plan will include a TDM plan, with recommendations and specific policies to improve transportation infrastructure and increase mobility choices for DEN passengers and employees. This TDM plan will aim to decrease vehicle trips on Peña Boulevard and encourage more sustainable transportation options for passengers, visitors and employees at DEN.

The TDM plan will provide implementable strategies and plans on how DEN can increase its share of public transit ridership (including RTD A-Line and bus services), support employee vanpools/carpools, incentivize sustainable transportation and encourage HOVs. Proposed solutions from the TDM plan could include employee incentive programs to promote transit ridership, innovative parking solutions to encourage carpools and vanpools and improved facilities to make sustainable transportation more enticing, such as bike lockers, assembly and repair stations, and bike tools.

DEN recognizes that bicycle and pedestrian facilities remain unconnected, with barriers to access transit (RTD A-Line, Buses, etc.) and the airport. The Peña Master Plan will identify adjacent multi-use trails, outside of the Peña Boulevard roadway, to increase active transportation uses and improve comfort. The trails will increase regional connectivity for active transportation by connecting to DEN, the First Creek Trail and RTD A-Line Stations along Peña Boulevard.

Understanding how to reduce the number of single occupancy vehicles (SOVs) on Peña Boulevard and shifting existing travel to more sustainable modes of transportation is a goal of the Peña Master Plan. The TDM plan will develop strategies specifically aimed at reducing the number of SOVs on Peña Boulevard.

DEN is studying its options; discussions on whether to toll and how any such revenues could be used are yet to be determined.

As part of the Peña Master Plan, DEN has identified peer airports for benchmarking to identify and compare current ground transportation best practices. Benchmarking includes reviews of current published information and phone interviews. This task also includes an investigation and assessment of the policy levers that similar airports have used to influence employee and passenger mode choice. Benchmarked airports are similar in terms of size and type of activity i.e., large hub domestic and international airports, that have developed and implemented policies and strategies for advancing non—single occupancy vehicle transportation model choices for passengers and employees.

Potential environmental impacts, both positive and negative, will be assessed at a high level during the study phase of this project. As the project moves into the planning, design, and future phases, all required NEPA analyses will be completed to assess impacts and reduce, minimize, and/or mitigate negative impacts. In addition, all local, state, and federal environmental rules will be followed.

Furthermore, the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure Envision framework will be utilized. Envision® provides a consistent, consensus-based framework for assessing sustainability, resiliency, and equity in civil infrastructure.

One of the main causes of traffic pollution in cities worldwide is congestion. Idling vehicles increase the local concentration of harmful emissions, and the concentration of potentially hundreds of vehicles increases that concentration further.

As Peña Boulevard has reached its capacity, there is an increase of traffic diverting to local arterials such as Tower Road and 56th Avenue, causing increased congestion and safety concerns on roadways in Historically Disadvantaged Communities that are not designed to handle that level of traffic. If this congestion and demand are not managed on Peña Boulevard, vehicles will continue to divert to local arterial roadways. Improvements to the corridor are needed to relieve congestion, improve air quality and enhance quality of life in the communities surrounding Peña Boulevard.  

The Gateway Area is generally bounded by Chambers Road on the west, Himalaya St. on the east, Green Valley Ranch Boulevard. on the south and Peña Boulevard on the north.

Denver Moves Gateway Area Travel Study was originally scoped by the City and County of Denver’s (CCD) DOTI to better understand the travel demands in the Gateway Area with recent developments, forecast assumptions, land usage, current/planned transit services, current/planned bike network, and updated traffic data.

DEN and DOTI recognized that there was significant overlap between the two studies and agreed to combine them into one study co-managed by the two agencies.

The Far Northeast Area Plan (FNAP) involved extensive public outreach and engagement to understand the community’s vision. The recommendations identified in this plan provide direction to guide day-to-day decision-making related to land use, public investment, private development, and partnerships. DEN will use the FNAP to guide the development of solutions and proposed alternatives within the study area. In addition, DEN and DOTI will be thoughtful in their engagement efforts to ensure previous stakeholder and public comments and visions are considered before re-engagement occurs.

The FNAP Amendment, which was created by Denver’s Community Planning and Development and adopted by Denver City Council in May 2022, outlines the community’s vision for the next 20+ years. This plan will help inform community priorities and public investments during that time. The FNAP includes the neighborhoods of Montbello, Gateway-Green Valley Ranch, and the southernmost portion of the Denver International Airport neighborhood. DEN will use the FNAP to guide the development of solutions and proposed alternatives within the study area.

In addition to attending public meetings, the Peña Master Plan  website includes project updates.  The website includes a sign-up form for individuals to be notified of future engagement events.

The Peña Master Plan will provide opportunities for public and stakeholder participation at key milestones throughout the study to ensure their feedback is considered and incorporated into the proposed solutions. The first round of public engagement occurred in early 2023 followed by the second round in late summer 2023. Additional public engagement is planned for early 2024 to present recommendations from the Peña Master Plan. For more information about previous and future public engagement, please visit the project page.

DEN also developed a Stakeholder Working Group comprised of surrounding transportation agencies, local agencies and advocacy groups. The Stakeholder Working Group met in early 2023 and summer 2023 and will meet again in early 2024.

Public review and engagement are critical to Peña Master Plan and the community’s feedback will influence the outcomes. Meeting notes for public meetings will be generated and any comments received from the public will be considered as part of the final outcomes.

The public and stakeholders have already been engaged in several planning studies within or adjacent to the Peña Master Plan area, in particular, DOTI’s Far Northeast Plan. DEN wants to be thoughtful in their engagement efforts to ensure previous stakeholder and public comments and visions are considered before re-engagement occurs.

For additional questions and feedback, you can contact the Project Team via email at [email protected].

As part of the Peña Master Plan, DEN conducted surveys of over 5,000 passengers, 2,700 employees and 50 tenants to understand their transportation needs and challenges when accessing the airport. The results of the surveys are being used to inform a comprehensive ground transportation plan and mobility policies for the airport that improve mobility and access for DEN passengers and employees and promote multi-modal transportation improvements.

Equity is a guiding principle of DEN’s strategic plan, Vision 100 and core value of the Peña Master Plan, see the  goals and objectives (enter hyperlink). Removing transportation barriers to ensure all have access to the airport is a major consideration of the Peña Master Plan. In order to understand what the community needs to make things equitable; we will be engaging community members through a series of meetings so we can better understand the need and incorporate those needs into the Peña Master Plan.

Equity Objectives:

• Engage with communities affected by the Peña Master Plan  and integrate their considerations into the proposed solutions
• Explore solutions to the needs of employees who reside in dense employee areas to provide better access to the airport

Develop options to increase transportation choices for economically disadvantaged employees who work at DEN by expanding transportation options, improving connectivity to alternative travel options, and providing first mile/last mile strategies.

The City and County of Denver defines equity as “when race and other social identities can no longer be used to predict life outcomes.” The Peña Master Plan, seeks to ensure that transportation barriers do not impact employees, passengers, and visitors of getting to and from the airport.