CDR’s deep experience with built environment projects includes a longstanding focus on transportation systems and the organizations that run them.

We convene local planners, interest groups, elected officials, community members, technical experts, and other stakeholders to engage in collaborative decision making at statewide, regional, and municipal levels. In doing so, CDR supports strategic and project planning efforts—such as National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and pre-NEPA efforts including Planning and Environmental Linkage (PEL) studies—as well as design and construction phases.

At CDR, we:

  • Design and facilitate workshops to build consensus among agencies;
  • Strategize and implement public involvement processes to understand community sentiment; and
  • Help transportation decision-makers identify action-oriented outcomes.

CDR guides organizations through evolving challenges related to emerging mobility technologies. We work across modes, including passenger rail, LRT, BRT, paratransit, intercity bus, and other fixed-route networks. We also navigate policy, funding, organizational capacity, and environmental conflicts. We continue to deepen our understanding of Colorado and national transportation landscapes by supporting a wide array of clients in this work.

Examples of our transportation work: 

  1. FRPRD Advisory Services

    CDR has advised the staff, board, and project partners of the Front Range Passenger Rail District (FRPRD) for the past several years, guiding interagency collaboration to deliver future intercity passenger rail service across 13 counties in CO. We help to advance District goals regarding board management, stakeholder outreach, and technical planning, serving as important strategic thought partners for the District.

    Notably, our staff have facilitated the most recent three annual retreats for the District’s Board of Directors, convening the 20+ member group for strategic planning discussions, key organizational decision making, and team building. This included guiding the development of governance strategies, communication protocols, board by-laws, and a clearly articulated set of organizational values to guide staff.

    In 2025, CDR and partners are continuing to provide engagement, coalition building, and strategic advising services to help FRPRD partner with related projects like Joint Service, Northwest Rail Peak Period Service, and Mountain Rail. The CDR team is leading alliance-building efforts to promote stronger collaborative relationships between FRPRD and elected officials, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), economic development organizations, and advocacy groups.
    This long-standing relationship builds on CDR’s previous work supporting an earlier NEPA Alternatives Analysis.

  2. NTI Public Involvement Training
    After more than 30 years of training design and delivery for the National Highway Institute (NHI), CDR expanded its training focus to include the National Transit Institute (NTI). Our team leads both virtual and in-person training workshops for local and state transit agencies across the country, providing a hands-on curriculum focused on public involvement in transportation decision making.

  3. Interstate 70 Floyd Hill & CSS Process
    Floyd Hill is the latest large-scale design and construction project along I-70, Colorado’s most critical east–west travel and freight corridor. CDR leads the Context-Sensitive Solutions (CSS) stakeholder engagement process to address recreation, land use, wildlife crossing, and habitat sustainability issues for this complex, $900 million endeavor.

    The I-70 CSS process brings together multi-disciplined, multi-interest stakeholder groups to learn about, discuss, and recommend priorities for preservation in the mountain corridor. Participating stakeholders provide technical expertise, process guidance, and feedback into the transportation decision-making, planning, and construction processes. Through this collaborative approach, CDR empowers representatives to influence decision-making, shape priorities for CDOT, and structure the communication protocols between their mountain communities and CDOT. CDR’s facilitation and outreach work has driven construction of the Westbound Peak Period Shoulder Lane and NEPA processes for the Westbound Peak Period Shoulder Lane and Floyd Hill NEPA processes.

  4. Oregon Passenger Rail
    The CDR team facilitated the decision-making process of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Leadership Council, including a series of workshops and meetings to reach consensus-based agreement on a final high-speed rail alignment along the Pacific Northwest Corridor.

Learn more:

Jeffrey Range
Transportation + Emerging Mobility Practice Lead
jrange@cdrassociates.org