Lower Downtown District, Inc.

The Future of Transportation in Lower Downtown

Jun 15, 2000

In it's recent past, Lower Downtown has found itself in the limelight many times as a clustering point for art galleries, a proving ground for urban residential neighborhoods, a centerpiece of night life and entertainment, and a focal point for responsible Downtown historic preservation. Lower Downtown has both capitalized upon, and in some cases, weathered its celebrity to protest and maintain, for the most parts, its historic characters, its gritty vitality and its pedestrian-oriented appeal. Although most people drive to get here, Lower Downtown is a place where people want to walk, a place where people in their cars are actually somewhere else (even while physically situated on a LoDo street). In order to "be in LoDo," you really have to be on foot.
It is likely that Lower Downtown will soon become part of yet another frontier, as an immediate neighbor to the hub of the region's transportation system. Denver Union Station, although not technically part of the Lower Downtown Historic District, is most definitely part of the soul of Lower Downtown. Union Station also straddles the generally recognized dividing line between Lower Downtown and the Central Platte Valley, creating an undeniable bridge or gateway between the two neighborhoods. The mixed-use Union Station Transportation Center envisioned for the approximately 17-acre Union Station site will have such a profound impact on the future character of Lower Downtown that the magnitude of the capacity for change wrapped up in this relatively small piece of ground is not yet fully appreciated.
Once established, the Union Station Transportation Center will provide the public with a coordinated set of transportation connections that will allow anyone passing through its doors to travel in a direct an d convenient manner to virtually any other location in the region and to many other locations across the state and country. The goal will be not to replace or eliminate the automobile as the region's primary mode of transportation, but to expand the transportation choices available to citizens and visitors. The Union Station Transportation Center will serve as the linchpin that allows all of the incorporated modes of transportation, such as RTD bus and rail, Amtrak private bus and shuttles, private rail, cars, bikes, trolleys and taxicabs, to function as an efficient system.
As a result of the abundant transportation options that will be made available at the Union Station Transportation Center, Lower Downtown and the Central Platte Valley will become the first Colorado residential neighborhoods where car ownership or at least multiple car ownership, may become truly optional rather than a necessity of life for most. While most individuals will likely still to choose to own one car, the two and three-car families endemic to today's popular culture may start to give way to the comparative ease, convenience and cost efficiency of other transportation options as light rail, shuttles, electric cars and bicycles all become readily available within a short walking distance.
If designed and developed properly, the Union Station Intermodal Transportation Center will Positively reinforce LoDo's status as a residential community, business center and entertainment destination. It will also bring to and through LoDo thousands of travelers each day, making their collective way to countless other destinations. Design, development and programming elements such as the exact placement of the various transportation models, pedestrian connections and amenities, construction sequencing, public/civic spaces within the site and the amount and location of public parking will all play critical roles in determining how comfortably-or uncomfortably-the Union Station Center fits within its surroundings.
The anticipated opportunities and benefits provided by a Union Station Transportation Center are myriad. However, its design and development will be complicated and challenging. Lower Downtown business and residents must be vigilant in communicating their views and priorities pertaining to the transportation improvements and over all development of the Union Station site. If everyone takes this responsibility seriously and does his or her part, getting to and "being in LoDo" will never have been so easy-or felt so good.