On Sunday, Sept. 27, the center two lanes of East Colfax became bus-only from Broadway to Colorado Boulevard. The finished section stops at the corner where South Park Hill starts. Every October event the Colfax Ave Business Improvement District has scheduled to mark the end of construction also sits west of Colorado Boulevard. East of that intersection, the Denver Post reported that the next phase of construction "will soon begin" between Colorado Boulevard and Niagara Street.

Put simply, the corridor's celebrations, its finished lanes and its next work zone all meet at one intersection. South Park Hill's southern edge heads into the colder months as the active job site, and its fall depends on a shorter list of local anchors than the stretch to the west.

What the Finished Section Looks Like From Our Corner

What's now open west of Colorado Boulevard gives a preview of what this stretch will eventually get. Routes 15 and 15L run in the center lanes. Riders board at built-out platforms with shelters, seating and security cameras, and information display boards come once all construction is done. Cars use only the outer lanes, and left turns off Colfax are now limited. The Post reported that some navigation apps, Google Maps among them, still sent drivers toward left turns that no longer exist. In August, one of Waymo's driverless vehicles got stuck in the construction zone for about an hour. The project also added free two-hour parking zones on side streets off Colfax.

This bus-only setup is temporary. It stays in place until the full bus rapid transit line is done, which RTD targets for the end of 2027. The full route runs from Union Station to I-225. Buses run in center lanes through South Park Hill's stretch, then switch to mixed traffic east of Yosemite.

What the Next Phase Brings to Our Blocks

The city's final design plans label stations at Cherry, Elm, Hudson, Krameria, Monaco and Quebec along this stretch. A city construction notice for the eastern segment lists the work involved.

• Utility investigations ahead of the main work
• Lane shifts as crews move through blocks
• Median removal to make room for center-running lanes
• Limited street parking near active work
• At least one traffic lane kept open in each direction
• Typical work hours of 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

That notice is dated to an April 2026 start, so treat the details as a general outline. No block-by-block October schedule for Colorado to Niagara has been published yet.

The busiest visible milestone so far came on April 27, when crews raised one of the project's big white station arches near Quebec Street. Neighbors watched from Fiction Beer Company. Denverite talked with co-owner Ali Hoskins-Kelly that day about how the brewery had held up:

"We've been really fortunate that so much of our clientele come from the neighborhoods, which would be north or south of Colfax. So we're really grateful that the construction hasn't hampered our business too, too much."

Fiction Beer, at 7101 E. Colfax, is a book-themed taproom. Its point applies to the whole stretch. With construction coming, the businesses here will lean even more on people who walk over from the residential blocks on either side.

This Fall's Colfax Calendar Runs West

The Colfax Ave BID's fall series is called "Anything Can Happen on Colfax," and it was built to mark the end of construction. Its October lineup, with addresses, looks like this.

Every listed address is west of Colorado Boulevard, and the BID says November and December are still being planned. These are short trips from South Park Hill, and they're worth making. They also make the gap clear. The stretch with the next round of fencing has no part in the end-of-construction series.

Denverite caught one reason the trip goes both ways. At the Fiction Beer arch party, Shannon Bowers said she keeps attending these events because they let her "explore little pockets of Colfax that I don't normally get to see being on the other side, being on the west side of Colorado [Boulevard]."

What Runs on the East Side Instead

East of Colorado Boulevard, the season runs on a few programs and storefronts.

The Fax Pass is still running. The city launched the booklet to send people to Colfax businesses during construction, and more than 100 businesses take part. Here's how it works.

1. Pick up a free physical pass at a pop-up. The next one is Monday, Oct. 5.
2. Show it at a participating business when you visit or make a qualifying purchase.
3. Collect one sticker per visit, up to two stickers per business.
4. Turn stickers in for tiered rewards at a pop-up.

The Oct. 5 date also brings a Uinta Arch Lift Viewing Party from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at Sarahi's Kitchen, 8135 E. Colfax. That's past Quebec, but the arch parties are clearly moving east along with the construction.

Between 4100 and 6100 E. Colfax, the Fax Pass roster lists roughly 30 participating businesses. For a regular weekday loop, the useful ones fall into a few groups:

• Coffee: Lilac Coffee at 4736, VIVA! Mexi-Coffee-Shop at 4900, Eastside Espresso at 5091 Unit E, and Denver Café and Kava at 5501
• Dinner: 9 Thai Restaurant at 4122, Stoner's Pizza Joint at 4565, Couscous Hice at 5325, Supreme Chicken at 5410, El Piñon at 5500, Phoenician Kabob at 5709, and Yaqui Tacos Tequila Mezcal at 5922
• A drink: The Owl Saloon at 5026
• Errands and gifts: Denver Key and Lock at 4528, Mod Livin' at 5327, The Shop Outpost at 5728, Antiques Etc. at 5736, Park Hill Treasures at 6035, and Ed Moore Florist at 6101

The roster still lists BoxBox at 5038 E. Colfax, but Westword's Oct. 1 roundup of September openings and closings reports that it closed.

Café Solene is the stretch's newest restaurant. Westword reported that it opened in mid-June at 5001 E. Colfax, in the space The W left after closing over Memorial Day weekend. Owner Manuel Gonzalez opened it as mainly a Mexican breakfast spot, with Friday through Sunday dinners planned. The café now calls itself a family-owned Mexican brunch restaurant with a plant-filled dining room, and its online ordering page says it opens at 8 a.m. Check before planning a dinner visit, since its current evening hours aren't posted.

One more is announced just off Colfax. Vegan Van, a Park Hill-based vegan food truck, plans to start serving breakfast, lunch and dinner at 1490 Eudora St. on Saturday, Oct. 17. That's a target date, so confirm before you go.

The Dated Event East of Colorado Boulevard

The only event so far with a firm date on this stretch is the Colfax Mayfair BID's Sip & Stroll. It runs Saturday, Dec. 5, from 2 to 6 p.m. Start at Park Hill Treasures or Marczyk Fine Foods to pick up a passport and register for prizes, then make your way through about a dozen neighborhood shops for stamps, free wine samples at participating stops, bites from local eateries, and holiday deals. The Mayfair district covers Colfax from Eudora to Monaco, which is the heart of South Park Hill's frontage.

The bigger picture is steadier than the construction fencing suggests. Denverite reviewed city data for the Colfax Ave, Bluebird and Mayfair business improvement districts from October 2024 through spring 2026. Ten businesses closed and nine opened in their place, and closures actually slowed compared with the roughly 20 a year those stretches averaged after COVID. When the western lanes opened, Colfax Ave BID executive director Frank Locantore told the Denver Post that the street's occupancy rate was 84%, the same as before construction. Amy Beres of the Fax Partnership told Denverite that businesses farther east "tend to be pretty small" and run on thin margins. The Mayfair blocks have their next stretch of construction ahead, and the Fax Pass, Café Solene and the Dec. 5 Sip & Stroll are this fall's most direct ways to support them.

At Six Seasons Realty, we follow the Colfax work block by block because it shapes daily life on South Park Hill's southern edge. If you're thinking about how the next phase could affect your street, your commute or your plans for your home, Start a Neighborhood Consultation with Wayne or Brooke.