The plan is aligned with the 2050 Metro Vision Regional Transportation Plan, and interlocks with DRCOG’s other adopted plans. The plan is grounded in of-the-moment challenges and opportunities, and sets a vision for active transportation for the region:

The Active Transportation Plan envisions a region where all people living, working and visiting have access to safe and comfortable places to walk, bike and roll.

The plan establishes a regional active transportation network that is complete, connected and comprehensive, and recommends actions for DRCOG and its partners to extend access to active transportation through policy, programs, guidance and encouragement.

On a typical weekday, people make an estimated 1.6 million walking trips across the region. However, pedestrians face barriers to walking for transportation:

• The Denver region—consistent with the rest of the country—is facing a pedestrian safety crisis. Pedestrian crashes resulting in death or serious injury increased 37% between 2019 and 2023.
• An estimated 58% of the region’s streets have the foundational elements of a pedestrian network: sidewalks, curb ramps and crosswalks.
• As many as 80% of the region’s arterial and collector streets may have prohibitively long distances between opportunities for pedestrians to cross the street (.25-mile in urban and suburban contexts and .5-mile in rural contexts).

The plan proposes pedestrian focus areas - comprising 2% of the region’s land area - to guide investment in completing the pedestrian network where it’s needed most.

A 2018 statistically significant survey of the region’s residents found that 70% of people might bicycle for transportation more often if they have safer places to ride. As travel options expand, people have more options and opportunities to use bicycle+ vehicles to get around, including traditional bicycles, electric-assist bicycles, scooters, one-wheels, and beyond. Furthermore, nearly one in five single-occupant vehicle trips is currently less than two miles. The plan proposes two network tools to encourage more bicycling: short trip opportunity zones, or small districts, where dense and connected networks can unlock more short trips by bicycle+ modes, and regional active transportation corridors, or connected regional routes, that form the backbone of the bicycling and walking system.

Finally, the plan proposes ten overarching actions for DRCOG staff to undertake to implement the plan:

• Analyze infrastructure needs and gaps regionwide.
• Assist local governments with planning and design for active users.
• Strengthen connections between housing, land use planning and transporation options.
• Invest in high-comfort sidewalks and bikeways.
• Expand bicycle and pedestrian counts collection.
• Benchmark walking and biking safety progress toward Vision Zero.
• Explore new funding strategies to accelerate sidewalk and bikeway construction.
• Support local operations with better data and regional coordination.
• Support active transportation encouragement programs.
• Track progress biannually.

To track the agency’s progress toward 2050 Metro Vision Regional Transportation Plan targets and the Active Transportation Plan’s own vision, updated performance measures are included.