Program Overview

Improving and expanding our transportation infrastructure, with a focus on safety, sustainability, and ease of mobility. 

Whether you are walking, driving, biking or taking the bus, nearly half all Elevate Denver projects will focus on making our streets safer and more efficient for everyone by:

• Repaving high traffic roads and repair and replace outdated bridges.
• Improving intersections and building sidewalks throughout Denver to create new connections among neighborhoods, bus stops, and rail stations.
• Coordinating with other city agencies to accelerate project completion for Denver residents.
• Building out the bicycle network to provide safer, more connected routes for people walking, biking, and rolling.

Restoring iconic institutions that have educated and entertained Denver residents for more than a century.

By maximizing taxpayer dollars through public and private partnerships, Elevate Denver will provide critical improvements to institutions central to the fabric of our city including:

• The Denver Zoo
• Denver Museum of Nature & Science
• Denver Art Museum
• Denver Botanic Gardens
• Denver Center for the Performing Arts
• Red Rocks Amphitheatre
• Buell Theater

Annual attendance at Denver’s cultural facilities is nearly double that of the city’s four major sports venues combined. Elevate Denver will ensure these culturally enriching spaces are preserved for generations to come.

In 2021, Elevate Denver completed a new outpatient medical center to increase patient capacity and meet the healthcare needs of Denver residents.

The building centralizes numerous outpatient services under one roof including a day surgery center, expanded pharmacy operations, lab services and radiology. $75 million of GO Bond funding went towards the more than $150 million project cost to build the 293,000-square-foot facility.

With 40 clinics serving 27 departments, this facility offers essential treatment for heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other treatable illnesses in adults and children. Central to improving the lives of Denverites, the facility also provides mental health care and substance abuse treatment while fostering relationships between patients and healthcare providers.

Modernizing Denver libraries to better connect people with information, ideas and educational experiences.

Denver’s libraries see more than 1.2 million visitors each year. By investing in new technology, redesigning spaces, and improving accessibility, Elevate Denver will amplify the library system’s community impact.

Through the program, the Denver Central Library will see significant safety and security upgrades as well as an expanded and relocated children’s learning area and event space for improved accessibility. Elevate Denver will make additional improvements at neighborhood branches, including:

• Athmar Park Library
• Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library
• Byers Library
• Eugene Field Library
• Pauline Robinson Library
• Ross-Barnum Library
• Ross-Broadway Library
• Ross-University Hills Library
• Schlessman Family Library
• Smiley Branch Library

For more information about construction and planning around library projects, visit the Denver Public Library projects webpage.

Bringing health and wellness to neighborhoods across the city through revitalized and high-quality parks and recreation spaces.

Elevate Denver will upgrade and improve more than 50 parks and 20 recreation centers, offering residents safe and modern spaces to connect, play, and exercise. These enhancements will improve energy efficiency and update systems for irrigation and water conservation — ultimately saving taxpayer dollars.

In addition to these upgrades, Elevate Denver will build a new recreation center in the Westwood neighborhood and a new indoor swimming pool in the Green Valley Ranch neighborhood. Elevate Denver recently completed Phase II of Paco Sanchez Park, creating a regional playground and community gathering spaces.

For more information about construction and planning around park and recreation projects, visit the Park and Facility Projects webpage.

Enhancing the efficiency and accessibility of city buildings and services.

Through structural and exterior improvements, Elevate Denver aims to make city buildings more accessible to residents and city staff. Projects will eliminate physical and communication barriers by upgrading ADA-compliant sidewalk ramps and improving exterior and interior routes, accessible parking, and visual alarms.

Over the next decade, six roofs and four HVAC systems will be replaced at city-owned buildings. Several city buildings will also receive general repairs, including: 

• Richard Castro Human Services Building
• Northeast Montessori Center
• Denver City and County Building
• Arie P. Taylor Building

Prioritizing the wellbeing of Denver residents and the first responders who keep our city safe.

Elevate Denver will replace or renovate two police stations and half of Denver’s fire stations. Many of these facilities are more than 40 years old and need critical upgrades and improvements.

• Across the city, 19 fire stations will receive updated equipment, bathrooms, and living spaces to improve the day-to-day working environment and ensure better gender equity. A new fire station will be built at 72nd and Tower Road to meet the needs of our growing city and improve emergency response times.
• The District 5 Police Station, serving the Montbello, Central Park, and Green Valley Ranch neighborhoods — and the District 6 Police Station, serving the Capitol Hill, Civic Center, Five Points, and Downtown neighborhoods, will be replaced to improve policing operations and better facilitate community engagement.

Deliver valuable and high-quality projects equitably across the City that are consistent with the community’s expectations

• Objective 1: Define values, plans, processes, and procedures at both the project and overall program level to provide uniformity and predictability in the performance of reach individual project as an integral part of the program.
• Objective 2: Deliver the program using an integrated organization, staffed by City and consultants, complying with City regulations and using effective practices.
• Objective 3: Uphold a commitment to enrich the community through balanced implementation of the City’s mobility, parks and recreation resources, cultural assets, safety, and other public facilities.

Complete projects within the established budget and anticipated schedule, while helping to achieve reduced long-term operating and maintenance costs.

• Objective 1: Use effective practices to plan, measure, monitor, and manage the on-time, on-budget performance of the program and each of its projects.
• Objective 2: Use effective practices to ensure that operating costs of each project will be kept to a minimum, consistent with projects’ intended benefits following delivery of the completed projects.

Use effective design and construction practices to deliver projects that improve quality of life by enhancing environmental, economic, and social sustainability.

• Objective 1: Achieve sustainability certification of projects throughout the program, such as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and/or other applicable certifications, at or above the level required by City executive orders.
• Objective 2: Enhance community quality of life through improved natural, social, and built environments for current and future generations of Denver. Support the City’s core business value of sustainability.

Instill effective project delivery and program management practices that can be replicated for the benefit of future City projects and programs. 

• Objective 1: Build upon and continue to implement effective program management practices.
• Objective 2: Develop and implement staff development for the program requirements that is scalable for other City projects and programs.
• Objective 3: Steward tax dollars through effective procurement and efficient project delivery packages that benefit the community while encouraging participation of industry, including disadvantaged businesses.

Proactively identify opportunities for small and minority or woman owned businesses and create equitable career pathways enabling residents to thrive.

• Objective 1: Increase contracting opportunities for certified professional services, construction, and good and services firms through the Division of Small Business Opportunity.
• Objective 2: Enhance collaboration with Denver Construction Careers Program and other partners to build skills among residents and opportunities for businesses.

Actively, consistently, and accurately communicate the status of the program to stakeholder groups and the Denver community.

• Objective 1: Launch public-facing dashboards communicating project information and progress.
• Objective 2: Engage the community by leveraging multiple communication strategies and tactics to provide project updates, establish program branding, and build community support.
• Objective 3: Implement effective internal communication to ensure alignment and coordination with other projects and activities within the City.