Bike sharing is finally coming to Denver! Thanks to the successful bike-sharing program during the DNC, Denver is launching B-cycle this spring, with 50 stations around the city and most of those in the Downtown area. For all the details, please check out this site and this one too which has a great map with all the B-cycle locations.
Archive of posts filed under the Transportation category.
18th Street Pedestrian Bridge
The new 18th Street pedestrian bridge opened this weekend! The bridge, officially known now as the Union Gateway Bridge (although I suspect everyone will still call it the 18th Street Pedestrian Bridge), connects the Riverfront Park and Union Station districts in the Central Platte Valley. The bridge crosses over the Consolidated Main Line (CML) freight tracks and, in a few months, it will also span the tail tracks for the relocated light rail station that will be built a block away at 17th Street and the CML. Let’s take a trip across the bridge, starting from the Union Station side.
A view of the bridge with the Glass House and the Manhattan in the background, and the copper cladding on the elevator cores:
The new streetscape along the northeast side of 18th Street, and an overview of site prep work for the big Union Station project:
Looking back at Downtown, and a look down at where the plaza at the base of the bridge will connect to the northern end of the new light rail platform:
More Union Station site prep work, and the bridge from the Riverfront Park side:
Click here for a few more details about the bridge from a recent Denver Business Journal article.
Upcoming Denver Union Station Events
With construction getting underway at Denver’s big Union Station transit project, it’s important to stay engaged with the project. To that end, here are three events coming up that you are invited to:
Union Station Advocates – DUS Loan Approval Celebration!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
5:30 – 7:00 PM
Gumbos Louisiana Style Cafe – 16th & Wazee
Help Union Station Advocates celebrate the approval of the $304 million loan to the DUS project! Stop by Gumbos and enjoy free gumbo with the purchase of an adult beverage. You don’t have to be a member of USA to join in the celebration (although we’d love it if you do become a member). Click here to download a PDF flyer about the event.
Denver Union Station: Portal to Progress – LoDo Film Premiere
Thursday, March 18, 2010
5:30 – 7:30 PM
Oxford Hotel Ballroom – 1637 Wazee
Did you miss the big premiere at the Hyatt in February of the new film about Union Station? Did you see the film already and loved it so much you want to see it again? Either way, you’re covered! Union Station Advocates, in cooperation with Havey Productions, is proud to present the LoDo premiere of the film Denver Union Station: Portal to Progress.
The program begins with a reception and cash bar, followed by the film and comments by Dana Crawford and Jim Havey. General admission is $15, or for $30 you can see the film and get the DVD, or for $60 you can see the film, get the DVD, and get a discounted membership to Union Station Advocates. What a deal! Click here to download a PDF flyer about the event.
Urban Land Institute Colorado – State of the Union
April 1, 2010
1:30 – 6:30 PM
Denver Athletic Club – 1325 Glenarm
ULI-Colorado’s next Explorer Series event, “State of the Union”, will provide an in-depth look at the entire DUS project. The program begins with a panel discussion about the project at the Denver Athletic Club then, after a Mall shuttle ride down to Union Station, tour the site with project experts and finish with a hosted reception inside the historic station.
To register, please visit the ULI-Colorado website. Click here to download a PDF flyer about the event.
16th Street Mall Concepts
As a follow-up to the public meeting of a couple weeks ago, the consultant team for the 16th Street Mall urban design plan is preparing to bring current concepts to the public in open houses next Wednesday and Thursday. Three broad concepts are currently on the table. These concepts have considered – among other things – the history of the Mall and its materials, the observed manner in which people use the Mall, and the value judgments of a number of constituents of the Mall – including retailers, downtown residents, accessibility advocates, police, RTD, and the BID.
The concepts outline three alternatives for the future of the Mall. These range from little intervention to consideration of a broader downtown context. It should be noted that the technical details and block-by-block plans have not been developed at this point – with the intent to gather public input before taking a preferred concept to detailed development. The options include the following:
(please note, all images are courtesy ZGF Architects and in each case the north side of the street is to the left)
Option 1.
This concept maintains the existing design of the Mall framework, maintaining the median space between the shuttle lanes through the central portion of the Mall. Efforts would be made to organize furnishings and vendor operations to improve the overall use of the Mall, as well as to mitigate existing accessibility issues, but the design of the street would be largely unchanged.
Option 2.
The intent of Option 2 is to enhance the use and social opportunities of the Mall through a reorganization of circulation and amenities. In this concept, the central portion of the Mall would be reconfigured to the assymetric section currently found on both the east and west ends of the Mall – locating the west-bound shuttle lane within the current median (this would not impact the existing trees or lights, as the width of the median is adequate to accommodate the shuttles).
This option would allow restaurant patios on the north side of the street to expand nearly to the existing flow line of the street, while the existing west-bound lane would be used primarily for pedestrian movement. In cases where restaurant patios are not found, vendor carts and other amenities would located in the north walkway – with pedestrian circulation shifting to the north (as illustrated in the secend Option 3 diagram below). In addition, a third row of trees is suggested, providing additional shade to the Mall.
The design team has studied the effect of this concept on the paving pattern, and believes that the historic pattern can accommodate the scheme.
Option 3.
Option 3 takes the previous option to a whole new level, suggesting the relocation of the west-bound shuttle to 15th Street. The concept does all of the things that Option 2 does, while also allowing for the potential accommodation of bicycles on the Mall. Further, it places a focus on 15th Street – a place that is almost forgotten when it comes to walkability and retail viability.
Additional information is available on the Downtown Denver Partnership’s website.
It’s an exciting time for the 16th Street Mall, and it’s our time as a community to have a say in its future. So get on out to the open houses next week or attend future public meetings! You can also become a friend of the Mall of Facebook and give input that way. Whatever the medium, just make yourself heard!
#2: FasTracks and Union Station
I was thinking the other day that it’d be nice to do something big and splashy to celebrate FasTracks/Union Station coming in at #2 on our Denver’s Top 10 Urbanism Achievements of the Aughts list, so I arranged for the feds to give us a billion bucks and I threw in the Union Station movie as a bonus. I hope you liked it! Seriously though, that was quite a happy coincidence of events as I was about to post that Denver’s FasTracks transit program and its redevelopment of historic Denver Union Station are #2 on the countdown. Friday was certainly a great day for Denver.
Cities around the world have wisely built and maintained balanced transportation systems that include rail transit, cars, busses, bicycles, and a variety of contraptions in between. In the United States, we started out well, with streetcar systems (first horse-drawn, then electrified) running on the streets of just about every major city in the country. But then we abandoned all of that after World War II and went on an automobile binge that we have come to realize may not have been all that wise. Cars are awesome machines and the personal freedom they provide is phenomenal. But just like so many other things in life… too much of a good thing can be bad. So better late than never, cities across the US, including Denver, are bringing back rail transit to provide some balance to our transportation systems. It’s called having a diversified portfolio of transportation assets. I am proud of Denver for taking such a bold step in the right direction.
FasTracks is more than just an ambitious regional public transit program. It will also positively influence our regional land use decisions. Major employment centers, residential developments, shopping malls, and other land uses that draw or produce high numbers of people will be/should be located in the future along our transit corridors. That is one of the principles on which Denver’s regional MetroVision plan is based. It’s also common sense.
But let’s be very clear about what FasTracks is and what it isn’t. FasTracks is a regional transit system primarily designed on the hub-and-spoke model to move people from the suburbs into and out of Downtown Denver. Such a system is absolutely necessary and I wholeheartedly support the FasTracks program, as should you. But we also have to recognize that for those of us in Denver proper, FasTracks is only one side of the transit coin. FasTracks doesn’t provide Denver with the transit connections we need and desire within and between our denser urban core districts. That is where a new Denver streetcar system would come in, but that’s a topic for future blog posts.
If FasTracks alone wasn’t enough, we have the whole Union Station redevelopment to celebrate as well. Many cities destroyed their historic train stations or converted them beyond repair into shopping malls or festival marketplaces or whatnot. Fortunately in Denver, our Union Station remains intact and is now poised to once again serve as the rail hub for the city and region. Along with its associated private sector development, the Union Station project will complete the transformation of the Central Platte Valley as a dynamic transit-oriented extension of Downtown. Downtown Denver just keeps getting better and better…
It’s Official: Union Station, Gold Line, East Corridor, Get Funding
Here’s Federal Transit Administration head honcho Peter Rogoff announcing that Denver’s FasTracks program will receive $300 million in loans for Denver Union Station and $1 billion in direct payments over several years for construction of the Gold and East commuter rail lines.
This is a great day for metro Denver!
FasTracks Funding Announcement Today
This is not unexpected, yet it is still huge news for the success of the FasTracks program:
This federal funding commitment will allow the Gold Line and the East Corridor Line to move forward. Construction is expected to get underway on the East Corridor Line this fall. For more details, check out Kevin’s post at the Inside Lane.
16th Street Mall Urban Design Plan – Public Meeting TONITE!
As many know, the 16th Street Mall is currently the centerpiece of an important conversation. A technical assessment completed in the Fall of 2009 investigated the construction and economic viability of the Mall’s existing surface. Phase 2 – an Urban Design Plan focused on imaging the Mall of the next 30 years – is currently on-going… and tonite is an opportunity to see what designers and the project’s Steering Committee are considering.
The presentation will include 3 alternative concepts for the Mall’s functional, operational, and physical future. And as if that weren’t enough to get you excited, Laurie Olin (one of the original designers of the Mall and an internationally-respected landscape architect) will be on had to offer his impressions. The details below:
16th Street Mall Urban Design Plan Public Meeting #2, Thursday February 4 (today)
5:30 – 7:30 pm, Wellington Webb Building, Room 1.B.6 (enter from Court Place)
Possible Funding for Colfax Streetcar?
The Denver Post reports today that State Senator Chris Romer plans to introduce a bill in the Colorado legislature that would provide significant funding for a streetcar line along Colfax Avenue. Senator Romer suggests the streetcar line should run from the Auraria Campus in Downtown Denver to the Anschutz Medical Campus at Fitzsimons in Aurora. For the details, click here for a PDF of the Denver Post article.
Here is the graphic that accompanied the Post article that isn’t included in the PDF version:
It is exciting to see a potential funding source identified to help build Denver’s first modern streetcar line. Who knows if this bill will ever get to the governor’s desk, but it is an encouraging sign nevertheless. I’m pleased that at least some of our state leaders are interested in advocating for urban transit.
#6: T-REX
Counting down Denver’s Top 10 Urbanism Achievements of the Aughts… at number 6 is the TRansportation EXpansion project.
T-REX was the nickname given to the massive highway reconstruction/light rail project that was so successfully adopted by the public that even though the project has been finished for over three years now, people still refer to the southeast light rail line as the “T-REX line”. Construction on the 19-mile-long project began in 2002 and wrapped up four years later, with the grand opening ceremony taking place on November 17, 2006. The T-REX project rebuilt Interstate 25 from Broadway in Denver to Lincoln Avenue in Douglas County. Rebuilt, as in completely from the ground up, including new underground utilities, new storm water drainage, new roadbed, new bridges at every interchange, new sound walls, new lighting, new landscaping, and new signage. As part of the reconstruction, several new lanes were added in each direction, including braided on/off ramps and transition lanes at several interchanges to eliminate conflicts between vehicles merging on and off the highway. Interstate 225, from its interchange with I-25 to Parker Road in Aurora, also received a substantial reconstruction and widening. Along both I-25 and I-225, double-track light rail lines were laid with 13 stations along the way.
For those of you who are a friend of DenverInfill on Facebook, I’ve just uploaded two albums totaling 100 photos of T-REX construction and the grand opening. To become a DenverInfill Facebook friend, use the link on the right sidebar. Here’s a sampling:
T-REX represents an excellent example of cooperation between CDOT and RTD, between Denver and its neighboring cities and counties, and a comprehensive multi-modal approach in making transportation investments.
