East Colfax BRT: False Promises and A Logistical Mess

“The first thing they did was pull out all of the parking meters,” said Holly Brooks, the former and now adjunct owner of Capitol Hill Books, which is across the street from the Colorado State Capitol. The shop is right where the East Colfax Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system is currently being built and draws customers from the west edge of downtown.

The current owners of Capitol Hill Books, Ben Hall and Brooks, have been clinging to their historic tenant status on East Colfax Avenue while construction disrupts traffic and restricts street parking. The storefront is now a dangerous combination of cones and netting. The sidewalk serves as a wide pedestrian detour, and “No Parking” signs can be found all along the obliterated street shoulders.

When the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) wrote a check for $150 million towards the BRT system last October, it did so without consulting the local businesses. This project will add a designated bus lane that will span the length of Colfax from Capitol Hill to the northeast of Aurora. Business owners throughout Colfax were told that the construction may affect the flow of customers due to the lack of parking. Brooks described her initial interactions with city representatives as being firm and uncompromising:

“They contacted us, but they said, ‘This is not about whether you want this to happen. This is going to happen, and we are just here to talk about it.’”

The plan is to place an eastbound and westbound lane for the buses throughout Colfax. RTD issued its press release on the project on Oct. 4, which included a quote from Congresswoman Diana DeGette. “The East Colfax Avenue Bus Rapid Transit Project will improve the quality of life for our region, create jobs and increase access to vital transportation options,” DeGette said. The project broke ground on Oct. 7, 2024, and by Nov. 1, there was nearly zero street parking on Capitol Hill.  

The state’s investment in infrastructure and inter-regional transportation has been a major issue as Coloradans move further away from the city due to rising rents. The inner city has higher taxes, higher rents and more congested streets, causing many commuters to relocate to neighboring suburbs in Aurora.

“They got money to do it and they started without us,” Brooks said. “There was no vote. They did not take into consideration that retail business provides most of the tax, and there is no retail business on this block—everything closed.”

Hypothetically, BRT will be a saving grace for Denver transit users, but the 18-month construction timeline for this stage has already proven to be a logistical hell for the first half mile of the Colfax retailing community. 

Four restaurants and a dispensary that previously shared the corner of East Colfax Avenue and Grant Street have closed. Hall, one of the owners of Capitol Hill Books, stated that he works almost every day and that January revenue was down 30% from a year ago.

Capitol Hill Books anticipated a gradual decline in customer traffic following the busy holiday season, but January has delivered its own version of a New Year’s slump. As Hall explained the drop in sales, the store seemed to echo from the empty aisles of books and pamphlets.

As construction continues on both sides of East Colfax from Civic Center Park to Denver East High School, the area has become congested. The sidewalks are coned off and the driving lanes are a weaving obstacle course with dipping potholes and creatively drawn lane dividers.

Jon Mascarenas was given the same 18-month window for his business, Sauce Money Barbershop,  on East Colfax and Emerson Street. Now, the five-year tenant shares that his business has faced difficulties gaining new clientele because of the BRT mayhem.

Mascarenas explained that each barber must develop their own clientele in order to pay rent for their chair in the shop. As the owner, Mascarenas bears the responsibility of making his location accessible for clients who keep his business going. 

“Parking has been the major thing,” Mascarenas said. “Barbers have definitely struggled. New clients will drive by here and it’s not like they can just pull over and park. And then it also seems that they made the parking even harder and now enforcement has gone up. It’s like they know they’re going to find people parked illegally because of the situation. It’s kind of cowardly, you know.”

Mascarenas says city representatives are sugarcoating the situation while street parking is closed due to construction. Business owners feel that the city has been careless in how it approached the project and failed to consider how this would impact their livelihoods. 

Even the most well-known Colfax businesses are bracing for the impact of the construction which is expected to continue along Colfax until 2030. Brooks emphasized the risks that her business faces as she watched her 30 year old neighbor, Jerry’s Record Exchange close. According to Brooks, Grant Street has become a grim burial ground for a once bustling corner filled with Colfax’s most historic tenants.

A usually high-traffic establishment, Voodoo Doughnuts now finds itself packaging a slew of online orders from convenience-seeking Doordashers. Lilivina Gilbert explains that she spends the majority of her days alone at Voodoo Doughnut because people’s shifts are cut midway through the day. 

“For the past month now, I have been cut down to four days of work from five,” Gilbert said. “I think it’s going to get worse, too, because they plan on cutting down the sidewalk to about a foot from the door.”

Because businesses will need to adjust to construction for an extended period of time, many have decided to reduce work hours and eliminate unnecessary costs in order to remain operational. Capitol Hill Books, according to Hall, pays $2850 in rent per month but recently the store made only $200 in sales after a full day’s work. On top of the cost of labor, utilities, advertising and acquiring new books to sell, Hall has to squeeze his profits in order to survive until the construction marches past Grant Street.

Civic Center Park is nine miles from the border of Aurora along East Colfax Avenue, where the project is ultimately supposed to extend. Given the 18 months it will take to refurbish one mile, it is likely the other eight miles will be unrecognizable for years to come. Nonetheless, a ray of hope shines in the distance, as businesses that survive will be able to reap the long-awaited benefits of improved infrastructure and accessibility.