The 16th Street shuttle bus in Denver, CO. by BeyondDC licensed under Creative Commons.

Colorado’s governor wants to expand transit service across the state. How a new federal program looks to better coordinate transit projects with localities. Bogota, Colombia, faces challenges to its transit paradigm.

Colorado governor looks for solutions: Colorado Governor Jared Polis is floating an idea to expand and improve transit service across the state and link it to housing and climate action. But the governor also believes the transit agency serving the Denver region, RTD, needs an overhaul before they receive more funding. The agency is running just 70% of 2019 service and the governor is open to changing the Colorado Department of Transportation’s priorities to get more service. (Nathaniel Minor | Colorado Public Radio)

Emerging project agreements: A new federal program is looking to counter a disconnect in how local projects in different economic sectors can be coordinated locally as they receive federal funding. To maximize the impact of a portfolio of projects that are receiving federal funding, cities like Austin, Texas, and Kansas City, Missouri, are using a new tool called an Emerging Project Agreement that connects the US Department of Transportation and the Build America Bureau to local project sponsors. (Bruce Katz | The Philadelphia Citizen)

How Bogota tried to solve urban traffic: Bogota, Colombia, grew from a smaller city of 600,000 people in the 1950s to a bustling metropolis of 11 million. As the city grew, bus rapid transit and bicycles met the transportation needs of residents. But many are frustrated as the system lagged on expansion, faced financial neglect, and experienced more crowding. A new metro is under construction, but it’s also unlikely to solve the biggest problem: the politics of wealthy drivers. (This article is behind a paywall). (Michael Kimmelman | New York Times)

Salt Lake City’s downtown success: A report from the University of Toronto found that Salt Lake City, Utah, had the strongest pandemic recovery of any downtown in the United States based on unique-visitor foot traffic. This strong recovery is caused in part by workers who see being in the office as important to their growth, and by the city’s cultural institutions and entertainment that make up a greater part of the city’s footprint than many office-dominated places. Last year, 61% of people came downtown for arts and entertainment. (Alan Greenblatt | Governing)

Stopping Jakarta from sinking: Jakarta, Indonesia, is sinking into the sea as groundwater is extracted for drinking and the threat of sea level rise increases. The worst-hit parts of the city have sunken 16 feet in the last 25 years. Currently, one in three residents of the megacity use wells to get their fresh drinking water. The city’s only hope of keeping the Java Sea at bay is setting up the ability of residents to get drinking water through pipes instead of wells. That task now falls on a billionaire whose company has just been awarded the contract to expand access to piped water. (Sheryl Tian Tong Lee and Grace Sihombing | Bloomberg CityLab)

Quote of the Week

“What we’re seeing is that a growing number of folks are reaching out because they’re looking for a better option in their community. They’re really looking for autonomy over where their food comes from and the ability to have the kind of food they want to have.”

Faye Mack, executive director of the Food Co-op Initiative in Fast Company discussing interest in co-ops after dollar stores have pushed out local groceries.

This week on the podcast, we’re at the Mpact conference in Phoenix with Tom Brennan, senior principal at Nelson Nygaard. Tom and I talk about the sexy world of bus speed and reliability, how agencies can invest for effectiveness, and future-proofing routes for the long term.