We – the below signed Denver residents of the Stapleton neighborhood – are writing to express our safety concerns regarding the traffic in our neighborhood. Specifically, we are referencing the area on the East side of the neighborhood, along both Havana Street and Iola Street, between Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd and E. 25th Avenue.

The speed limit is currently listed at 30mph for both Havana Street and Iola Street. This seems fast for residential neighborhood streets. Aside from the more major arteries through the neighborhood (i.e. Central Park Blvd and MLK Jr Blvd) speed limits on most streets within the neighborhood are set to 20-25mph. This seems more appropriate for an area that has many residential homes as well as parks, pools, and schools. With a speed limit of 30mph, many vehicles are driving 40-50 mph through our part of the neighborhood.

Furthermore, unlike a majority of the rest of the neighborhood, there are currently no stop signs or pedestrian crosswalks at the intersections along Havana St. and Iola St. between 25th Ave and MLK Jr Blvd. People (including many children) often seem to get trapped trying to safely cross Havana and Iola. The excessive speeding and the lack of a safely designated place to cross make it terrifying and dangerous to walk or bike yourself, your children, or your pets between home and the pools/parks/schools/recreation center in the area.

Stapleton was designed to be a walkable/bikeable community. With the current state of traffic in our neighborhood, this is not at all the case. Between the excessive speeds of those using our streets as a through-way, the lack of stop signs and crosswalks for pedestrians, and the multitude of folks speeding the wrong way down our streets, the neighborhood amenities are far from being safely accessible.

With the increased traffic from the proposed Eastbridge Town Center, these speeding and safety issues are likely to persist/increase and create an even more dangerous situation for our neighborhood. We have had an increasing number of vehicular accidents due to these abovementioned issues. In the last month alone, there have been at least two major accidents in this area (one at the intersection of E. 28th Ave and Havana Street, and one at the intersection of E. 28th Place and Iola Street). If things do not change, it is only a matter of time before a more serious incident involving more than vehicular damage will occur.

We are respectfully asking that the city work to enact some changes to increase the safety of the neighborhood and avoid a potential tragedy like the one on Central Park Blvd back in 2010.

Specifically, we are requesting the following:

1) Decreased speed limits to a maximum of 25mph on both Havana Street and Iola Street

2) Addition of four-way stop signs at 28th Ave and 28th Place on both Havana Street and Iola Street

3) Addition of painted crosswalks at 28th Ave and 28th Place on both Havana Street and Iola Street

4) Additional signage indicating that both Havana Street and Iola Street
are one-way streets

Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.