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Littleton outlines 2026 Transportation Master Plan update, staff seeks community‑focused consultant
Summary
City staff presented a yearlong scope, funding plan and a three‑phase public engagement strategy for a Transportation Master Plan (TMP) update, seeking council blessing to publish a consultant solicitation in March and proposing an 18–20 month project timeline with heavy emphasis on safety and implementation.
City of Littleton staff on Tuesday presented the scope, public‑engagement approach and draft schedule for a 2026 update to the city’s Transportation Master Plan, urging council to authorize publication of a consultant solicitation this month.
“ The transportation master plan is one of the city's highest priority projects for this year,” said Shane Roberts, senior transportation planner, as staff reviewed the 2019 TMP’s outcomes and a report on progress covering 2019–2024. Molly Rafferty, a transportation planning intern, said the city has advanced 58 bike and pedestrian projects, 29 auto projects and nine transit projects since 2019 and that bicycle‑involved crashes have fallen overall since the plan’s adoption.
Staff said the update is designed as a three‑phase process: baselining (reconfirming community values and existing conditions), benchmarking (comparing Littleton to peer cities), and a ‘‘bull’s eye’’ phase that will produce both a long‑range vision and a practical five‑year implementation roadmap. The presentation emphasized elevated attention to safety: “Safety is really a high priority,” Kenna Davis, senior transportation planner, told council.
The proposed solicitation would fund an initial consultant contract of about $1,000,000 of a total $1.5 million budgeted for the project, with $200,000 reserved to allow extra public engagement or unanticipated needs. Roberts said the city expects contracting around July and a project kickoff in August or September; staff estimated an 18–20 month schedule that could conclude in 2028 depending on start date.
Councilors asked whether some near‑term actions — notably reduced speed limits — could or should be pursued before the TMP is completed. Roberts and Director of Public Works Brent Sardon cautioned that changing signs alone often does not change driving behavior and recommended pairing any speed‑limit changes with engineering, enforcement and community outreach. ‘‘We’ve found that only changing the signs doesn’t really have an impact on speed,’’ Sardon said, adding that police engagement and a communications plan are needed for effectiveness.
Council and staff discussed coordination with corridor‑level work already underway (for example, Littleton Boulevard and downtown subarea studies) and with regional partners. Staff said they will ask the selected consultant to propose engagement tactics that go beyond the minimum and to help integrate corridor studies with the TMP work so the public sees consistent goals and timelines.
Councilor Zink and others praised the retreat and board interviews that informed the scope and said they support elevating safety and implementation. The council did not take a formal vote on the TMP scope but staff asked for council’s blessing to solicit consultant proposals in March.
Next steps: staff will publish the solicitation in March, return to council with a recommended contract in July, and begin work with the consultant in late summer.
