Collaboration and coordination are the key elements of the City and County of Denver’s TCG, established in 1996. The TCG’s mission is to coordinate all projects that impact the City’s public right-of-way, namely streets, sidewalks and alleys.
Paramount to its mission, the TCG is responsible for the development of the Public Works Department’s "Capital Improvement Program" (CIP). The CIP identifies Public Works’ service and project needs and helps prioritize how public dollars are spent to deliver certain Public Works programs to Denver citizens.
The City’s Budget and Management Office defines a capital improvement project, featured in the CIP, as totaling at least $10,000 and studying, repairing or rehabilitating a fixed City asset.
Through an assessment process, the TCG identifies Public Works’ needs. The major assessment categories are:
Six-Year Needs Assessment Plan
The six-year plan targets and lists long-range capital improvement needs, regardless of available funding.
Two-Year Capital Plan
The two-year plan allows the TCG to prioritize work schedules for projects selected for funding from annually appropriated funds.
First-Year Capital Budget
The year-one capital budget includes actual funding requests, listed in priority order.
This budgeting program includes input from City staff, especially members of the TCG, City officials and, by way of Denver City Council offices, the public.
The TCG is comprised of staff from the Public Works’ divisions of:
- Transportation Engineering
The Transportation Division utilizes CIP funding for Transportation Planning, Transportation Engineering, Traffic Operations and City Engineering. A small sampling of some of the 1999 funded projects includes:
- bikeway improvements
- traffic signal and faded sign replacements
- new street name signs
- Central Denver Transportation Plan implementation (also featured in Managing City Streets)
- Colorado Boulevard improvements
- Central Platte Valley air quality studies
- Colfax Corridor improvements
- Central Business District improvements
- South Broadway design studies.
Each year, the TCG defines, coordinates, plans, allocates and monitors how Public Works’ spends its annual CIP budget of $17 million to $19 million. As the number of City projects increases, so does the need for the type of comprehensive planning and collaboration in which TCG members participate.