Since Sunday, Sept. 27, buses have had the two center lanes of East Colfax Avenue from Broadway to Colorado Boulevard to themselves. RTD's Route 15 and 15L buses run in those lanes, cars are limited to the outer lanes, and riders board from platforms in the middle of the street that they reach by crosswalk. The fences, cones and heavy machinery that had been on Colfax since late 2024 are gone from that 2.5-mile stretch.
Every one of the new rules works the same way. Colfax is now slower to drive down and more restrictive about where you turn. Getting to it on foot from a side street is easier than it used to be. Congress Park sits right along the south side of that stretch, and its side streets all lead straight up to it.
The rules that changed on Sept. 27
If you've only driven the new Colfax once or twice, these are the changes that matter, taken from RTD's announcement and the first-day reporting:
- The center lanes are bus-only from Broadway to Colorado Boulevard. Cars stay in the outer lanes.
- You can turn left only where there's a left-turn lane and an arrow. A curb median separates eastbound and westbound traffic.
- Buses stop in the median. The old curbside stops along the opened section are no longer served.
- New two-hour parking zones on Colfax and on side streets are free but time-limited. Go by the posted signs on each block.
Your phone may not know all this yet. Just before the opening, the Denver Post reported that apps including Google Maps were still sending some drivers to left turns that no longer exist. A spokeswoman for the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure said the city was working with Waymo, Apple and Google to update their routing. If your route home from the north used to involve a left onto Colfax at a block with no arrow, the app's suggestion may simply be wrong.
Driving down it got harder on purpose
The old Colfax had four lanes of traffic and a few dedicated turn lanes, and cars in the right lane often got stuck behind a bus loading at a busy stop. The new layout narrows the car lanes. Denverite reported that the narrower lanes are meant to make drivers on one of Denver's most dangerous roads go slower.
The first week showed what the adjustment looks like. On opening day, the Denver Gazette watched a driver near the Colfax and Downing station use a bus lane as a left-turn lane, which forced other drivers to swerve. On Sept. 29, an eastbound 15L bus and a truck collided at Williams Street. According to the Denver Post, the truck was turning left on a green arrow, and the bus driver was cited for failing to obey a red signal. The arrows control everything now, for buses and cars alike.
If you drive Colfax every day, all of this means more patience. If you live a few blocks south and want dinner on Colfax, it means the walk up Josephine, Elizabeth or Madison may beat the drive.
The crosswalk is the new front door
The median platforms near Congress Park are at Josephine/York, Fillmore, Madison and Colorado. Each station will get a steel arch for shade and shelter. Once the full system is running, buses are planned to arrive every 4.3 minutes. For now, the 15 and 15L run as an interim service. The new buses, ticket machines and real-time arrival displays aren't in place yet.
Expect a learning curve. On opening day, one rider stood at an old curbside stop for several minutes trying to flag down buses that no longer stopped there. Capitol Hill resident Amber Kalafus told the Gazette, "Yesterday it was over there. Today it's over here." She also said she thought the new setup would be convenient.
That convenience carries past Colfax. The Josephine/York platform is the closest Colfax stop to the Denver Botanic Gardens on York Street, and the Gardens warns that its garage fills quickly on event nights and that some nearby streets have parking restrictions. Glow at the Gardens runs Oct. 15–18 and Oct. 21–24 from 5:30 to 9 p.m., and Blossoms of Light opens Nov. 20. Neighbors who live between the Gardens and Colfax can expect those nights to bring more traffic and more parked cars to their blocks.
The businesses that waited it out
The construction years were hard on Colfax's storefronts, and the numbers show businesses held on more than they emptied out. Frank Locantore, executive director of the Colfax Ave Business Improvement District, told the Denver Post that after several openings and closings, the district is 84% occupied, the same rate as before construction began. He also said that "some (businesses) are hanging on by their fingertips." The city gave grants to 152 businesses affected by construction, nearly $2 million in all, according to Denver Economic Development & Opportunity.
On the blocks closest to Congress Park, construction was especially hard to work around. In June 2025, the Denver Post found that customers of Tommy's Thai at 3410 E. Colfax were asking whether the restaurant had moved, because construction blocked it from view. Owner Maud Schaefer said, "This whole block is really struggling." The same report described Lula Rose General Store at 3434 E. Colfax as cut off by fencing and equipment. Maria Empanada had opened its standalone shop at 2730 E. Colfax that February, only to find itself surrounded by construction debris by June.
Some owners opened anyway, right in the middle of the work:
| Address | Business | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| 3015 E. Colfax | The All Inn and FiNO | FiNO opened March 18, 2026, and the hotel followed March 26 |
| 3107 E. Colfax | Sweet Time Coffee | On Westword's list of September 2026 openings |
| 2301 E. Colfax | Ma's Kitchen Dim Sum & Bar | Named by the BID as a recent opening at York Street |
| Colfax at High Street | Pampered Paws | Named by the BID as a recent opening |
Owner Brian Toerber described The All Inn as a restoration meant to bring back a historic East Colfax destination. The hotel has a lobby bar and an outdoor wine garden. These owners committed to Colfax before the cones came down, and the street that reopened is easiest to reach for people who live within walking distance.
Rising costs hit the inner blocks too, with or without construction. Briar Patch at 1222 Madison St. closed in mid-September after about 14 months, and its owner said business wasn't enough to cover rising operating costs. Every storefront in Congress Park depends on regular local customers, whether it sits on Colfax or on a quiet corner like 12th and Madison.
October on the reopened blocks
The city and local businesses marked the opening on Monday, Sept. 28, starting at Carla Madison Recreation Center, 2401 E. Colfax, and moving on to a small-business hop. The theme was "BOLO," short for Bus-Only Lane Operations. The celebration included a cake shaped like a traffic cone and a carnival at the Learned Lemur.
Now the BID is running a fall campaign called Anything Can Happen on Colfax. It describes the campaign as an invitation to support "the independent businesses that carried the avenue through years of disruption." The campaign covers the whole corridor, but four of its October dates fall just west of York Street, a short walk from the neighborhood's northwest corner:
- Tuesday, Oct. 13, from 6 p.m.: Yahya's Mediterranean Grill and Pastries, 2207 E. Colfax, sells lentil or tomato soup for $3 as part of the Colfax Grubhop.
- Thursday, Oct. 15: $1 lattes at Convict Coffee, 2260 E. Colfax.
- Wednesday, Oct. 28: The King Penny Radio Show, an improvised 1940s-style radio program based on audience suggestions, at the Learned Lemur, 2220 E. Colfax.
- Thursday, Oct. 29, at 7 p.m.: Colorado Saves the World, a comedy panel on the day's news, at DNVR Bar, 2239 E. Colfax, with a $10 cover.
The Grubhop deals are one item per customer, walk-ins only, while supplies last. Each venue above is within a few blocks of the Josephine/York platform.
Still ahead
The work isn't done. With the Broadway-to-Colorado segment finished, construction has moved farther east. When the whole corridor out to I-225 is finished, Routes 15 and 15L will become the branded Lynx BRT service. RTD's own timing estimates range from the end of 2027 to early 2028, and an RTD deputy CEO told the Gazette that full Lynx service is expected to launch in early 2028. Until then, the Broadway-to-Colorado section runs as it does today, with center bus lanes, median boarding, left turns only at arrows, and two-hour parking on the signed blocks.
The Colfax edge just changed more than it has in years. If you'd like to know how your home's location relative to the new Colfax shows up in its value, Dianne Goldsmith can give you a straight answer. Get your free home valuation.
