Wednesday, December 8, 2010

16th Street Mall Progresses

As one of the most iconic identifiers of Downtown Denver, 16th Street Mall is the focus of tourism and City character. The Downtown Denver Partnership, RTD, and the City of Denver are working with private consultants to revamp the pavers and streetscape design in the coming months.

The new design for 16th Street Mall includes 2 options. Option #1 minimizes overall intervention with the current design by maintaining existing transit operations and overall layout. This option keeps the bus lanes, sidewalks, and treeline. Option #2 responds to current solar exposure by transforming the entire mall into an asymmetrical block setup. This setup moves the two lanes of traffic together around the existing south treeline, making the former transit lane an extra-wide walkway with extended patio and kiosk space. This provides more flexible pedestrian space with room for full-scale retail kiosks. It also allows retail access without crossing bus lanes and creates an expanded walkway are as well as a possible third row of trees. It is feasible to make this change while still preserving the ornate diamondback paver design and the design does not disturb the existing Honey-Locust trees.

To learn more about the design options, please see the Downtown Denver Partnership website at www.downtowndenver.com.

No comments: