CDR is proud to announce that our acclaimed public training program, Facilitation and Mediation of Public and Environmental Conflicts, is now available for registration. The course will take place from May 5th to May 7th 2020, at the Alliance Center in downtown Denver, Colorado.

The three-day course teaches participants facilitation skills, methods of engagement, and conflict resolution theories. It is a deep-dive into practical strategies for reaching agreement with stakeholders and partners — and is taught by experienced trainers who lean on real-world projects to augment the course delivery.

Email CDR or call (303) 442-7367 for more details about the course, or register online today. Our Fall 2018 and Spring 2019 classes sold out – so don’t wait! We hope to see you in May.

Colorado is known for many things but few more iconic than its beautiful landscapes, vast mountainous wilderness, and wild animals. Elk, moose, bear, pronghorn, and many other large mammals travel across Colorado’s landscape in search of habitat, food, water, and a safe place to raise their young. Colorado’s quickly growing population, and the resulting growth of its transportation networks, is in direct conflict with traditional migration routes for many of these animals and herds. When animals and humans meet on Colorado’s roads, the outcome isn’t pretty; there are a number of forces working to change that right here in the Centennial State.

For over two years, CDR has been working with the Colorado Department of Transportation, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and federal agencies, local organizations, sportsmen’s groups, engineers, and nonprofits to establish and grow the Colorado Wildlife and Transportation Alliance. You can see our work with the Alliance evolve here and here.

This past August, something new and exciting happened. Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed Executive Order, D 2019 011, Conserving Colorado’s Big Game Winter Range and Migration Corridors.

“Colorado’s natural beauty and wildlife are part of why so many people love our great state,” said Governor Polis. “This is a step toward better understanding and protecting the migratory patterns of Colorado’s wildlife populations and ensuring we can preserve our treasured animals and their habitats.”

In a Press Release, the Governor’s Office highlighted one of the most iconic wildlife crossings in the state. “Colorado has seen success with a number of wildlife passages around the state, most notably with Highway 9 south of Kremmling through the Blue River Valley. Over an 11 year stretch, there were more than 650 wildlife-vehicle collisions on this section of highway. Through collaboration, a wildlife passage project was completed in November 2016 and consists of two wildlife overpass structures, five wildlife underpasses, 10.4 miles of eight-foot-high wildlife exclusion fencing, 61 wildlife escape ramps, and 29 wildlife guards to help reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions while providing safe passages for wildlife.”

This is important not only to connect animals to their natural habitat, but for human safety as well. In addition to charging Colorado DNR with studying migration corridors and their intersection with Colorado roads, as well as CDOT with incorporating big game migration considerations into planning, the EO also underscores the importance of the Alliance and strengthening partnerships around Wildlife and Transportation issues. This is big news for all Colorado residents – both two legged and four!

Tracy Winfree joins CDR Associates following an almost 30-year history of meaningful work in Front Range communities. Tracy’s diverse background with the City of Boulder included serving as director of three different departments: Director of Public Works for Transportation for over 13 years, interim Director of Parks and Recreation for six months, and Director of Open Space and Mountain Parks for over 3 years. After her retirement from the City of Boulder, Tracy served a six-month interim role as neighboring City of Louisville’s Director for Parks, Recreation & Open Space, while Louisville’s City Manager did a national placement search. Tracy was on the 36 Commuting Solutions board, serving twice as chair, and served on the Regional Air Quality Council board.

Tracy’s leadership of diverse local government operations has included developing and implementing policy; advancing progressive planning and projects for multimodal corridors and innovative transit systems; overseeing complex management of Open Space lands balancing habitat preservation and recreation and visitor access and agriculture activities; leading organizational change to improve structure, workflow, and collaboration; supporting transparent community engagement; advancing business process improvements to improve strategic budgeting, work planning, and prioritization; participating in employee group contract negotiations through interest-based bargaining; and working collaboratively on the regional level to advance projects of mutual interest to benefit the broader community.

CDR’s emphasis on helping governments and agencies at all levels often has transportation, land, and/or water management at the heart of an underlying community interest. Tracy brings her commitment to community service, and her skills and experience to CDR with the goal of helping organizations capitalize on opportunities of mutual interest and navigate the challenges that many agencies face. Tracy’s insights related to how organizations work forms the basis of sound advice and strategy for continuous improvement, benefitting workplace culture and effectiveness while also improving service to the community.

Tracy graduated with honors from Princeton University with a degree in Architecture and completed the University of Virginia Business School – Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service: Leading Educating and Developing (LEAD) Program.

Away from the profession, Tracy can be found playing outdoors with family and friends — hiking mountain trails, body surfing ocean waves, biking roads and bikeways — and probably not playing card and board games, or anything else inactive, for that matter. Tracy and her husband, Bryan, enjoy traveling and adventuring locally and beyond, especially when it includes their two children.

Welcome Tracy to the CDR team at twinfree@mediate.org.

Randy Grauberger, the Executive Director of the Southwest Chief and Front Range Passenger Rail Commission, talks about big revolutions in transportation that changed the way people moved around Colorado and even changed the face of Colorado itself. He mentions the opening of the Moffat Tunnel in 1928, the passage of the Interstate Highway Act of 1956, the opening of the Eisenhower Tunnel in 1973, and the opening of Denver International Airport in 1995. And today? Today the Passenger Rail Commission and CDOT are looking into what Grauberger thinks could be the next transportation revolution in Colorado — Front Range Passenger Rail.

The Front Range Passenger Rail project includes developing a service development plan (operating plan) and conducting environmental review so that the Colorado legislature and public can provide their input to the concept.

CDR is working with the Front Range Passenger Rail project team, providing agency coordination and stakeholder engagement services. The project itself is particularly complex — an enormous project area with lots of stakeholders, a wide range of interests, and numerous local, state, and federal agencies seeking to meet their own unique needs and goals. So, stakeholder engagement matters. CDR is seeking to ensure that the broad range of stakeholders are engaged, to include their diverse interests in the project’s decision-making.

To do this, CDR and the project team have come up with a unique approach to assure maximum efficiency in such a large and complex corridor. The approach includes creating local coalitions to link their community members’ interests to the project team and having an engagement plan that includes both in-person, traditional public involvement and innovative, technology-driven tools in order to meet people where they are and in the way that works for them.

For more information on stakeholder engagement and agency coordination on complex public projects, like the Front Range Passenger Rail, reach out to Jeffrey Range at jrange@mediate.org.

2019 marks the beginning of the construction phase of the I-70 Mountain Corridor Westbound Peak Period Shoulder Lane (PPSL) Project. This exciting project will reduce congestion and improve safety on a 12-mile stretch of the I-70 Corridor in Clear Creek County, particularly on weekends when crowds are flooding to-and-from their mountain adventures and the Denver metro area. This 12-mile section of the I-70 Mountain Corridor – winding through Clear Creek County and towns including Idaho Springs, Georgetown, and Empire – is a critical interstate corridor, but has become a source of frustration for local residents and tourists alike due to weekend traffic, congestion and extended travel times.

For the last two years, CDR has worked with CDOT on a Context Sensitive Solutions (CSS) NEPA and design proves including stakeholder engagement, public involvement, meeting facilitation and mediation during the CSS Design Phase of the Project. The final Design Plans and Specifications are under final review, and the Construction Phase of the corridor improvement process will begin in March 2019. CDR will continue to facilitate a Project Leadership Team (PLT), made up of local jurisdictions, CDOT and the Federal Highway Administration to oversee the development of a Public Information Plan, construction scheduling and change orders, and the review and monitoring of the design agreements as they are translated into on-the-ground construction decisions.

In addition to the PLT, there will be a Project Information Leadership Team (PILT) made up of corridor stakeholders and impacted agencies. The PILT will develop a robust messaging campaign throughout the construction of the project to assure coordinated, consistent and accurate communication throughout the entire corridor. This team will also lead weekly update “snapshot” calls that are open to the community and will respond to public comment and inquiry.

CDR is committed to providing facilitation support services, process design and community engagement services to CDOT and impacted communities throughout the Construction Phase of the Project. The two-year construction timeline will begin in the Summer of 2019 with the intent to open the new westbound Peak Period Shoulder managed lanes in the Summer of 2021.