RTD’s buses may soon be able to tell riders where they are and where they’re going – all with satellite-driven technology. RTD plans to release a request for proposals this month on an extensive upgrade to its communications systems that, among other things, would bring automated stop announcements to its 1,000-bus fleet.

The beefed-up late fees that came with last year’s FASTER bill made a lot of procrastinating motorists angry but they have also had a much quieter and positive effect. More and more people are registering their vehicles on time rather than letting their expired registrations lag.

CDOT stopped eastbound traffic from entering the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnels Sunday afternoon and evening due to heavy traffic backing up into the tunnel. When this occurs, CDOT uses 20-minute traffic stops on the west side, which it calls “metering,” in order to prevent vehicles from standing idle inside the tunnel.

If anyone had to go through a year like Pauletta Tonilas did last year, they might just want a nice vacation. But the truth is that this year will likely be even more intense for Tonilas, the public information manager for RTD’s FasTracks program. She was honored this week by the Colorado Chapter of the Women’s Transportation Seminar as its “Woman of the Year.”

U.S. District Judge John Kane today declined to issue an order that would have halted work that began this week on the conversion of Denver Union Station into the rail hub for the FasTracks network. At a hearing this morning, the judge denied a motion by the Colorado Rail Passenger Association for a temporary restraining order.

When reconstructing one of Denver’s major business streets, Concrete Works of Colorado has found it helpful to its client — the city and the taxpayer — as well as the merchants along the South Broadway to move in like a colony of ants and get major pieces done in a day. Inside Lane observed one such day.

While the public is reacting to proposals that could radically restructure the famous 16th Street Mall, RTD plans to test different methods of fixing recurring problems with the mall’s infamous and recurrently loose granite pavers.

Lawmakers in the Colorado House passed some exceptions Tuesday to the controversial late fees in last year’s FASTER bill. The changes would allow clerks a bit more discretion in waiving the fees, exempt commercial trailer owners if they can document they had idled that part of their fleet, and put a $10 maximum late fee on non-motorized vehicles 2,000 pounds or less.

View a slide show of the first girders placed for the light rail bridge over Wadsworth Boulevard in Lakewood.

The Regional Transportation District has put together a $122.6 million wish list of projects that are ready to go in the event Congress approves a second stimulus program for transportation infrastructure. Half of that total consists of four FasTracks pieces totaling $60.5 million.