Council committee advances Peña Boulevard NEPA and design services to full City Council

Councilwoman Chantal Lewis, chair of the Business, Arts, Workforce, Climate and Aviation Services Committee (District 8), said the committee had postponed the Peña Boulevard item and set a 30‑minute limit for discussion. Denver International Airport CEO Phil Washington told the committee the action before the panel would fund public engagement and environmental study work under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and clarified that “nothing precludes the consultant from studying additional alternatives.” Washington also said airport leaders had identified 20 recommendations in a Transportation Demand Management (TDM) plan and “committed to $4,000,000 to look to implement those.”

The committee’s discussion focused on whether the NEPA study would examine rail and other transit alternatives for the A Line and how jurisdictional and revenue‑diversion constraints could limit implementation. Council members pressed the airport on whether it would take an active role to secure funding and partnerships with the Regional Transportation District (RTD) and city leaders to ensure any rail or transit options would be meaningfully studied. Phil Washington said DEN was “committed to being active and truly trying to figure all this out” with RTD, while also noting RTD had previously said it had no money to implement A Line improvements.

After roughly 30 minutes of committee questions and clarifications about NEPA scoping and the TDM program, the committee took a roll‑call vote to advance the procurement and NEPA authorization to the full City Council. The vote recorded in committee: Alvidrez — aye; Flynn — aye; Gilmore — aye; Parody — nay; Sandoval — aye; Chair Lewis — aye. The chair announced “5 ayes” and said the item “will go to the full body for further consideration.”

The airport emphasized that the NEPA contract includes capacity to study alternatives that may arise through public engagement, but that the airport judged a transit‑only solution unlikely to meet the NEPA “purpose and need” for the Peña project without separate funding commitments. Committee members said they wanted an active airport role in pursuing funding partnerships so consultants would have the resources to evaluate rail, double‑tracking, station changes and other transit infrastructure in the corridor.

Council members also sought more data on airport employee travel patterns, including separation of employee trips from traveler trips and clarification of ZIP‑code mapping (the airport noted some employee records use an airport address rather than home address in the data). The airport said it had convened or planned meetings with RTD leadership and city staff and that the mayor had offered to host a broader meeting with RTD board members.

What’s next: The committee approved forwarding the Peña Boulevard NEPA and design services solicitation to the full City Council. If the full Council approves the solicitation and contract, the airport will proceed with NEPA scoping, public engagement and the TDM implementation work already funded in part by the $4 million commitment the airport described.