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TMP update: Littleton planners push clearer engagement standards, new transit priorities
Summary
Planners and board members outlined recommended changes to the Transportation Master Plan (TMP) to add explicit public-engagement criteria, more visible project education, maps of transit-priority corridors and stronger connectivity between streets, trails and regional partners.
City staff and TMP consultants presented proposed changes to how Littleton communicates and plans transportation projects, urging a dedicated, standardized approach to public engagement and clearer prioritization of transit and connectivity.
Why it matters: city staff said the current TMP lacks a single, dedicated public-engagement chapter and that a revised TMP should include clear criteria for when outreach is required, what forms it should take, and how staff will "close the loop" to show residents how their feedback affected decisions.
Key points - Consultants and staff recommended a formal communications and engagement chapter in the TMP that would set thresholds for required outreach (examples: project budget, construction disruption, multi-year duration) and prescribe outreach methods (mailers, story maps, in-person corridor audits, QR codes and on-site signage). - The TMP update team recommended expanding the plan's system-level connectivity maps to show designated bike, pedestrian, transit and multi-use corridors so staff can prioritize capital projects to close critical gaps and to reduce "islands" of assets that are difficult to reach. - Staff and board members discussed transit gaps and options including local circulator services or microtransit, and noted the Arapahoe Countywide transit/micromobility study (pending kickoff) and CDOT's planning support could provide input for longer-range transit priorities. - The draft recommendations include an emphasis on education: explaining trade-offs (for example, why $20 million is needed annually for pavement management but only $8 million is currently budgeted) and describing how grants and developer contributions affect prioritization. - The TMP team proposed standardizing engagement documentation so the city can demonstrate that it met engagement standards and to give residents a way to check whether agreed outreach occurred.
Discussion and examples Board members said residents sometimes miss online outreach and that on-site signs and mailed postcards can be effective. Consultants described recent story-map tools for project visualization and recommended more multiphase engagement (early input, alternatives, and a follow-up showing how input was used). Staff suggested corridor audits where council, board members and residents walk project corridors together during the alternatives-development phase.
Transit and connectivity highlights Participants urged the TMP to include maps of transit-priority streets (not solely RTD routes), identify corridors that would support a Littleton circulator or microtransit, and memorialize connectivity between Littleton and neighboring jurisdictions. Staff said the countywide transit study and CDOT planning grants would be used to help define transit options; until then, the TMP should show desired network outcomes rather than only existing service.
Ending and next steps Board members approved sending the two-page summaries and recommendations from TMP working groups to staff for edits and asked staff to return an updated draft at the next meeting. Consultants will use current public comments to develop alternatives and staff plan corridor audits (walk-throughs) later this summer to ground-truth proposed changes.
