A pedestrian bridge at 18th Street over the consolidated main line railroad tracks in Downtown Denver’s Central Platte Valley has been planned for many years. Exactly when the bridge would actually get built was always dependent upon the pace of development and the cost and phasing of other infrastructure projects in the CPV. That time has finally arrived.
Recently, the Central Platte Valley Metropolitan District, the entity created to build infrastructure projects in the Valley financed by property tax assessments on real estate in the district, recently approved funding for the 18th Street Pedestrian Bridge. The bridge’s design has not yet been determined, but the bridge should be finished by late 2009 or early 2010.
With the undergrounding of the Amtrack and future FasTracks commuter rail lines by 2011 as part of the Denver Union Station redevelopment, 18th Street, which currently ends at Wynkoop Street, will be exteded past Union Station to Chestnut Street, where a pedestrian plaza will continue the short distance past East-West Partners’ proposed City House project to the base of the new pedestrian bridge. Once over the tracks, it’s a short two-block walk to Commons Park.
